23-05-2025
The best bubbles for the bank holiday – including a new £7 winner at Asda
If you've been shopping for fizz recently, you will have noticed newcomers among all the prosecco and crémant. A lot of newcomers. In the past few weeks, I've tasted sparkling vermentino from Australia's Strathbogie Ranges, fizz from Argentina's Famatina Valley, and bubbles from the shores of Lake Garda, to name a few.
As a committed crémant drinker, I've approached these newer sparkling wines with suspicion bordering on hostility. It's clear why they are here. Sales of crémant continue to soar: up by 19 per cent in Waitrose compared to the same time last year. And sparkling wine generally is so wildly popular that producers all over the world are keenly pivoting towards it, while supermarket buyers seek variety as well as cheaper alternatives to plug holes in their ranges as the price of crémant rises alongside demand.
Of course, I love tasting new wines. There's always a thrill to finding out what lies underneath the cork. But novelty for novelty's sake is not at all alluring. Any type of wine has to prove its worth to make it into my fridge – or my list of recommendations. So I'm pleased to report that some of the new sparkling wines are actually rather good, particularly if you're shopping on a budget.
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The best crémants
The best alternative bubbles
A word about crémant first, because the choice on the shelves has proliferated in the past year or two, making it more interesting but also more complex to navigate. If you've yet to try it, my hot tip is crémant d'Alsace. I've long loved crémants from the Loire and Limoux, as well as Burgundy and Bordeaux, but crémant d'Alsace is now in most supermarkets, from Asda to Waitrose, and it's delicious.
With crémant, each region has its own range of permitted grape varieties. In Alsace, these varieties include pinot blanc, riesling and pinot gris. The blends (and therefore the wines) vary a lot but pinot blanc and riesling bring compelling freshness, while pinot gris brings subtle florals; think meadow flowers rather than highly scented freesia.
