The Festive Champagne and Sparkling Wine Guide 2025

Welcome to my round-up of 23 Champagnes and round-the-world sparkling wines for the 2025–2026 festive season. It's always a pleasure to publish this – an appropriate glass in hand, of course.

There's something for everyone, from party goer to Champagne aficionado to the 'I'll try anything different' drinker, and for every occasion, from 'Hey, it's Friday, let's break open the fizz' to opening the presents on Christmas morning, celebrating New Year's Eve and diving deep into 2026.

I have prioritised new wines, new vintages and wines that I love that I haven’t featured before. Only one is a repeat from a previous Festive Guide and that’s because it did so well in a professionals' blind tasting I took part in earlier this year.

They are listed in ascending order of price with no separation between Champagnes and other sparkling wines or between whites and rosés.

If comparing prices between retailers, remember that, as well as wide differences in delivery charges and multibuy discounts, the same Champagne will be sold by some shops in a gift box, which ups the price.

Alma 4 Phos Pet Nat 2025, Mendoza, Argentina

If you want to give someone, or your party guests, something different this Christmas, Phos Pet Nat is your wine. Pale yellow, softly fizzy and softly textured with gentle, pithy citrus fruit, it’s accessible and deliciously different. It’s made from Chardonnay, but may not be like any other Chardonnay you’ve had, because it’s a pét nat (pétillant naturel) meaning it’s bottled under a crown cap before it has finished fermenting and finishes fermentation in the bottle. It’s a very old practice also known as the rural or ancestral method. 12%

£12, Tesco

The Society’s Exhibition Cap Classique 2023, South Africa

Cap Classique is the Cape’s version of the Champagne method and can be a great value alternative. This partially barrel fermented blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is dry, creamy, appley and toasty with a fine mousse. Made by masters of the style, Simonsig, it’s had at least 20 months on lees and nine under cork. 11.5%

£12.95, The Wine Society

Roche Lacour Crémant de Limoux 2022, France

One of Laithwaites’ most popular fizzes and I can see why. It’s toasty and almond-nutty with peach, apple and hint of apricot and not a hard edge anywhere. Nearly half the blend (Chardonnay with Pinot Noir) is fermented in oak, giving the toast and smoothness. 11.5%

£12.99, Laithwaites, Averys

Domaine de Bois Mozé Crémant de Loire Rosé

Delightful, dry, pale salmon rosé made from Cabernet Franc with just a little of the local Grolleau grown and produced, with 12 months ageing in bottle, on an organic and sustainable estate in the Anjou region. Fine bubbles, crunchy, ripe cherry and summer berry fruit and a lively fresh orange and herbal inflection. 12%

£16.99, Vintage Roots

Domaine de la Croisée Comtoise Crémant du Jura

Floral, fruity and elegantly dry Crémant from a small estate in the Jura, a region more famous for its distinctive Vin Jaune. It’s predominantly Chardonnay but gets a lift from 15% of the local Savagnin (there’s also 15% Pinot Noir) and it was aged on lees for 15 months. 12%

£17, The Wine Society

Klein Constantia Cap Classique 2020, Constantia, South Africa

From the estate famous worldwide for its Vin de Constance sweet wine, this 2020 is the first vintage of its all-Chardonnay fizz that has no dosage. It’s so fine textured, elegantly buttery, fruity and nutty that it simply doesn’t need any sweetening dosage. Good Value. 12.25%

£18.50–£23 Divine Fine Wines, The Fulham Wine Company, ChampagneDirect, Hay Wines, Secret Bottle Shop, The Wine Rooms Cambridge, Thorne Wines, Wadebridge Wines, Nickolls & Perks

Tanners English Sparkling Brut, England

A new English sparkling wine produced for Tanners by Rolling Hills, “an impeccable source”, as Tanners puts it, which we can reasonably speculate is Nyetimber. A classic Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier blend from the 2019 vintage, it’s supple and fluent with light almond-biscuit and brioche framing lightly honeyed citrus, apple and delicate acidity. Good value. 12%

£25, Tanners

Cloudy Bay Pelorus Rose, Marlborough, New Zealand

Full of ripe raspberry and apricot fruit, crème brûlée richness, toasted flavours and seamless acidity. This stylish Pinot Noir-based, classic-method sparkling wine from New Zealand’s most famous winery would suit people who sometimes find Champagnes too austere, but is easily classy enough to go down well with pink Champagne drinkers too. 12.5%

£25 in any 6-bottle mix, £30 singly Majestic

Tesco Finest Premier Cru Brut Champagne, France

Nicely aged, rounded, well balanced and very approachable non-vintage with classic brioche flavours and apple-accented fruit. I tasted it from a half bottle (£14) but am assured that it’s the same cuvée (batch) as the bottle. 12.5%

£26, Tesco

Henriot Brut Souverain Champagne, France

This is a new cuveé of Brut Souverain based on the 2019 harvest but with reserve wines now accounting for nearly half the blend, Pinot Noir overtaking Chardonnay as the dominant grape variety, more than four years’ ageing and a dosage of only 5.2g/l. It has lovey purity and transparency, with crystallised lemon, preserved lemon and salty minerality, but at the same time filled out with some richer brioche. If you want to be sure of getting the new cuvée, you’ll need to check the back label, but there’s nothing disappointing about the previous cuvée. 12.5%

£33–£45.99, Yorkshire Vintners, Selfridges

Westwell Pelegrim, England

An estate-grown and produced bottle-fermented sparkling wine made from the Champagne trio of Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay (40:30:25) at the family-run Westwell, below the Pilgrim’s Way near Canterbury in Kent. It’s based on the 2021 vintage with 20% of their reserve blend going back to 2014 and was aged on lees for three years before disgorgement with a dosage 8.5g/l. Unusually, it’s fermented to 5 bar instead of 6, with the object of accentuating the fruit and giving a richer mouthfeel. The result is a fine mousse, good depth and engaging flavours of zingy lime curd, apple crumble and salty, hazelnut biscuits. 11%

£36, Westwell Wines

Exton Park Rosé RB 23, England

Estate grown and made in Hampshire, this has beautiful fruit – strawberry, cherry and rose hip – and a silky texture, chalkiness and refined acidity that all live up to the bravura of the fruit and the alluring salmon pink colour. It’s a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Meunier and of 23 different wines (RB stands for Reserve Blend) and it was aged for three years minimum on lees. The perfectly balanced dosage is 10g/l. 11.5%

£39, Exton Park Vineyard

Vilmart Grande Réserve Premier Cru Brut Champagne, France

Rich, dry and appetisingly long with a deep, nutty, biscuity and buttery flavour and fine citrus fruit. Predominantly Pinot from Vilmart’s own Premier Cru vineyards, this complex Champagne is fermented and aged for 10 months is large oak casks. 12.5%

£39–£53, The Wine Society, Concept Fine Wines, Theatre of Wine

Abelé 1757 Brut Champagne, France

This is a very old Champagne house that I have rediscovered with pleasure this year. I’ve chosen the Brut for this Festive Guide, but there is also a very good Blanc de Blancs. The Brut has tempting aromas of red apple, freshly baked sourdough, macadamia nuts, lemon and sweet spices and a refined, chalky palate with a crisp saline finish. The blend, aged on lees for at least three years, is Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier (50:35:25) and the dosage is a well-judged 6g/l. 12.5%

£39.99–£48.99, All About Wine, Shelved Wine, Goldenacre Wines, Direct Wine Shipments; £142 for 3 bottles, Strictly Wine; £226.79–£245.95 for 6 bottles, Corking Wines, The Fine Wine Co.

Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2017, England

The latest vintage to be released of Nyetimber’s all-Chardonnay sparkling wine, which it has been making since the early 1990s, although not in every vintage, has intensity and richness in long and balletic form, with lemon curd, citrus zest, buttery shortbread and crème fraîche notes and appetite-whetting chalky minerality and acidity. 12%

£42.89–£49.50, The English Wine Collection, Hennings Wine, DrinkFinder, Weavers of Nottingham, Frazier Jones Wine, The Wine Society, Tanners Wines, The Oxford Wine Company, and many other independents at £50–£60

Billecart Salmon Le Réserve Champagne, France

A classic combination of elegance and richness in a Champagne aged on its lees for 50 months and with up to 70% reserve wines dating back to 2006. The base vintage is 2020 and it’s a Pinot Meunier-dominant (43%) blend of the three classic Champagne varieties. 12%

£43.99–£46, Hedonism, JN Wine, DBM Wines, The Wine Society (due in)

Weyborne Estate Oriana Golden Spur 2022, England

This is a limited early release of the 2022, a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier (53:46:1) before the main release next summer. There was a commercial call – the estate had run out of wine to sell – but the main reason for releasing some now, after 25 months on lees, is that the team tasted it in June to see how it was doing and felt it was very near where they wanted it to be. Pain d’épices, acacia honey and candied citrus follow rich golden-apple and patisserie aromas, together with a hint of perfumed mirabelle plum, and they’re carried by a generous creamy, chalky texture and youthful energy. 12%

£45, Weyborne Estate

Graham Beck Cuvée Clive 2019, South Africa

I can find only one UK stockist of this flagship Cape sparkling wine, but it's well worth tracking down. In a blind tasting of top Champagnes and sparkling wines from around the world at the London Wine Fair this year, I gave it one of my highest scores, noting its arresting floral, white fruit, citrus and sourdough toast aromas, its intensity, texture and integrated acidity. 12.5%

£54, Vinvm

Domaine Evremond Classic Cuvée Edition I, England

The inaugural release from Champagne Taittinger’s vineyards in Kent (in collaboration with UK partner Hatch Mansfield) has already been served by King Charles to President Macron at a state banquet at Windsor Castle, so it’s future seems assured. I can’t tell you what they thought, but I can tell you that I find it elegant and classically styled, with a notably silky mousse, salty, chalky minerality and subtle flavours of apple pie and sweet lemon. The blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier (55:35:10), 80% from 2020 and 20% from 2019, was aged for 38 months on lees and has a dosage of 7.5g/l. It’s ready now, but I would be happy to drink it at Christmas 2030 or anytime in between. 12.5%

£55, Domaine Evremond, Majestic

Taittinger Brut Millésime 2016 Champagne, France

Outstanding Champagne combining great complexity with willowy elegance, cool intensity with a warm embrace, citrus acidity and mineral precision with nutty, toasty warmth and a long, long finish. It’s half and half Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, 70% from Grands Crus, and was aged in the cellars for over five years. A very reasonable price for a bravura performance. If you’re in the mood to splash out more, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2013, its prestige Blanc de Blancs, is one of the true greats (around £150), as shown when I tasted it blind in a line-up of top fizz this year. 12.5%

£60–£75, Define Food & Wine, Champagne King, ChampagneDirect, Hard to Find Whisky, NY Wines Cambridge, WoodWinters, Wadebridge Wines, Banstead Vintners, The Wine Reserve, The Great Wine Co.

Bollinger PN TX20 Champagne, France

This is one for Bolly-philes, Pinot-philes, people who want a Champagne for food, Champagne connoisseurs, Bond fans (although there’s also a Bollinger 007 Limited Edition, £42–£45) and anyone who just wants a treat. That covers a fair few people, including me. PN TX20 is the sixth in the series of Pinot Noir Champagnes (hence PN) based on single villages, in this case, Tauxières (hence TX), and the base wine is from the 2020 vintage (hence 20). Bollinger’s famous reserve wines make up 25% of the blend. The result is a Champagne of precision, complexity, vinosity and compressed richness with pin-prick bubbles and notes of apple, citrus, peach, flinty minerals and a slight smokiness.

£88–£99, The Finest Bubble, North & South Wines, House of Townend, The Champagne Company, ChampagneDirect, Amathus Drinks

Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2018 Champagne, France

A relaxed, creamy, predominantly Pinot Noir Champagne (just 10% Chardonnay) with a pale colour, very fine mousse, a nose humming with peach, pear, almond croissant and pastry and a palate of buoyant fruit, toasty, smoky richness and an exhilarating lime-peel twist to the finish. Ready now but it will develop over the next 12 years. 12.5%

£165–£187, Hedonism, The Whisky Exchange, The Bottle Club, The Champagne Company, ChampagneDirect, Master of Malt

Dom Pérignon 2013 Champagne, France

I recommended this in last year’s Festive Champagne and Sparkling Wine Guide, so I’m not going to say any more except that, in a blind tasting of top fizz from around the world in May, I gave this my top score. 12.5%

£160–£210, Hedonism, Master of Malt, Waitrose, and others

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