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Sparkling season is here and we’ve got you covered, from proper bargains to seriously special bottles.
As the end of the year rushes into view, even the days seem to be sparkling. We (hopefully) get a little time off work, there’s celebrations and parties to host and attend, and Christmas presents to give and receive. It’s the best time of the year, in other words, and it’s definitely when sparkling wine comes into its own.
So, whether you’re stocking up for those cork-popping occasions like New Year’s Eve or Christmas lunch, searching for some special gifts for the people you love, or just treating yourself to some crowd-pleasing bubbles, we’ve got you. Below, these sparkling wines have been carefully curated to cover every price, occasion and style you could hope for. Have a seriously great holiday season, you lot.
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Under $20
1. Andrew Garrett Sparkling Shiraz
Here in Australia, we very much do things our own way. While our stifling southern hemisphere Christmas already separates us from our northern neighbours, it’s our wine choice that tends to raise eyebrows. Sparkling shiraz has, over the years, become something of a holiday tradition for us Aussies – and we’re definitely fans over here. This ripper from Andrew Garrett is a classic of the genre for a reason: it’s dry (but not too dry), lusciously fruity and tremendous value for money. All those red berry flavours pair up perfectly with a Christmas turkey, too.
2. De Bortoli King Valley Prosecco
We love a catchy wine label, but especially when the wine inside the bottle is just as enjoyable, and that’s exactly what we have here. If the label design here doesn’t already give it away, this prosecco from Victoria’s King Valley is designed to be fun, lively and easy going, which means it’ll slot in rather perfectly at all sorts of upcoming occasions. Great on its own, paired with food or in your favourite Spritz, this wine is a big winner – with a price to match.
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Under $30
3. Grant Burge Pinot Noir Chardonnay
From those shimmering gold hues to the celebration-worthy fizz, sparkling wine just always seems fancy. As drops like this gem from Grant Burge prove, though, fanciness doesn’t have to come with a posh price tag. Here, you’re getting everything that’s great about sparkling: it’s got a touch of fruitiness, a little creamy richness and a gentle acidity to hold it all together – and all for less than a lobster. Consider this a worthy pick for your holiday season, ready for those unexpected pop-ins.
4. Jansz Tasmania Premium Cuvée
Tassie wine’s star just keeps rising and we could not be happier. It makes perfect sense, too – the island state’s cool climate and pristine growing conditions seem ready-made for producing crisp, lively wine. One of our favourite Apple Isle wineries, Jansz, has been doing its thing since the 1980s (when it was collaboratively founded by Louis Roederer Champagne and Graham Wiltshire of Heemskerk) and this Premium Cuvée is one of the producer’s best. You’re getting the hallmarks of top quality sparkling – zesty citrus and rich, honeyed flavours – at an extremely generous price. We’d be popping the cork on this for Christmas lunch with the family.
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5. Oakridge Ovata Chardonnay Pinot Noir NV
You don’t need us to tell you how good Oakridge wines are. The winery is always top of the list for sophisticated chardonnay and pinot noir, bottling everything we love about Yarra Valley wine year after year. Ovata, Oakridge’s foray into sparkling, captures that same quality, giving us a chardonnay pinot noir with apple-like freshness, a little brioche-style richness from extended time on lees – the dead yeast cells that form throughout the process – and complexity beyond its price tag. This is more than worthy of any of the big moments where you’ll want to crack a bottle this season.
6. Pizzini il Soffio King Valley Prosecco
Victoria’s King Valley is the spiritual home of prosecco in this country and producers like Pizzini are the reason why. Founders Rosetta and Roberto Pizzini came to Australia from Trentino in northern Italy, bringing with them a passion for Italian-style winemaking, and we are eternally grateful that they did. Pizzini’s il Soffio prosecco is a definite step up from the cheerful styles that typically top up our Spritzes, instead showing off what premium prosecco is all about. There’s real complexity here, with floral and citrus aromas and tingly acidity not far behind. This would make a great gift for a prosecco-loving friend or an ideal pairing with barbecued seafood.
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Under $40
7. Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvee
Winemaking is bloody fascinating. While Blue Pyrenees has plenty going for it already – like vineyards in the supremely chilly Macedon region of Victoria, for instance – the winemaking team isn’t just resting on its laurels. Take this Midnight Cuvee, where grapes are picked after dark. Waiting for night to set in means the grapes, once picked, retain more of the fresh acidity that we love in a chardonnay-heavy sparkling wine. The wine is then aged on yeast for 24 months to give it a touch of richness to balance the acidity. Serve this with oysters on the back deck while the sun goes down.
8. Josef Chromy Tasmanian Cuvee Rosé NV
Another Tassie winery showing us mainlanders how it’s done – this time with an incredibly pretty, vibrant sparkling rosé. This wine from Josef Chromy is a gorgeous rose gold, which might be enough to make it gift-worthy even if it wasn’t seriously delicious. It is, though. Tasmania’s cool climate means there’s plenty of clean, fresh acidity here, alongside crunchy apple and juicy berry flavours and just enough texture. Special enough for New Year’s Eve toasting, we reckon.
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9. Croser Vintage
Most sparkling wine out there is non-vintage, which means the wine you’re drinking is a blend of different years. It’s a great way to keep a consistent style, but some wineries will also offer a vintage release, bottling the flavours and aromas of a particular year. That’s the idea here with Croser Vintage sparkling. With fruit grown in the Piccadilly Valley area of the Adelaide Hills, you’ll get a wine with classic chardonnay notes like nectarine, plus a crisp green apple-like acidity. There’s plenty of nutty, creamy richness, too, which makes this a complex and special sparkling. One to pop for those more intimate celebrations, though it would also make a lovely Christmas gift.
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Under $60
9. Teusner M.C. Sparkling Shiraz
Winemaker Kym Teusner is best known for making big, plush Barossa shiraz wines and, fortunately for us, he’s more than happy to give it the sparkling treatment. The M.C. shows us exactly how serious a sparkling shiraz can be, with Barossa fruit spending 24 months ageing in French oak to develop complexity before we get to have a sip. You’ll get flavours of cherry, licorice, earth and spice, wrapped up with a silky-soft mouthfeel. Forget the Mimosas on Chrissy morning – raise a glass of Teusner M.C.
10. Nicolas Feuillatte Grande Reserve Brut Champagne
There’s something truly special about genuine Champagne. It’s not just the name, either – wine made and grown in the famous French region is rightly regarded as some of the most delicious sparkling in the world. While the price can sometimes reflect that, you definitely don’t have to take out a loan to drink the good stuff. It’s just one reason we love Nicolas Feuillatte, a relatively young Champagne house making exceptional wine like this Grande Reserve Brut, a lighter style of Champagne loaded with berry and apple flavours. A great entry into Champagne, whether as a thoughtful gift or just as a terrific toaster for the holidays.
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Under $80
11. Hattingley Valley Classic Cuvee
It might have snuck under the radar but, these days, England is producing more than its share of premium sparkling wine. While the country’s climate makes winemaking and growing pretty darn difficult, producers like Hampshire’s Hattingley Valley are having great success with grapes like chardonnay and pinot noir. This wine is no novelty – it’s all the refined, clean and pretty evidence we need that English sparkling wine is here to stay. Expect toasty, biscuity notes, green apple crispness and plenty of zippy acidity. One for your wine-adventurous friends, this Christmas.
12. Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale Champagne Brut
With six generations and 200 years of winemaking history behind it, Joseph Perrier is rightly regarded as one of the best Champagne houses. Not to mention that the boutique, 23-hectare estate is built above a fourth-century Gallo-Roman cellar where Joseph Perrier wine ages in historic peace. Of course, none of that would be worth popping a cork for if the wine wasn’t outstanding – but it definitely is. It’s a delicate style, lifted by apple and pear flavours and a fine mousse (those creamy bubbles, in other words). Save a bottle for a worthy occasion or just show your mum how much you love her.
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Under $100
13. Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut Champagne
Back in 1846, when Perrier-Jouët released its first wine, Champagne was sweet. The Champagne house set the tone for today’s drier styles by adding a much more restrained dosage (AKA additional sugar) and inventing what we now call the ‘brut’ style. It means that you’re getting a little taste of history with wines like this Grand Brut, though the Champagne itself is much more than just a bit of trivia. Here, you’ll find a luxurious style, with flavours like buttery brioche and vanilla, and a silky, rich mouthfeel. Take a bottle to Christmas dinner if you really want to impress the olds or, even better, the in-laws.
14. Philipponnat Champagne Reserve Perpetuelle Brut NV
Philipponnat has five centuries of history and still tends its vineyards by horse and hand, but somehow that’s not the most interesting part of this wine’s backstory. See, these non-vintage wines are made with a process of blending the current year’s vintage with the previous, adding fresh and lively wine to the aged complexity of the old. Having started the process in 1946, new bottles of the Reserve Perpetuelle Brut contain nearly 80 years worth of Champagne vintages in each bottle, which is pretty special. The wine lives up to the story, too, with flavours like redcurrant, strawberry and freshly baked bread. Give this to someone who appreciates the unique stories behind great wine – and thoughtful gifts.
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Over $100
15. House Of Arras Vintage Rosé
Australian sparkling wine owes nearly everything to Ed Carr, head winemaker at House of Arras. The former microbiologist-turned-sparkling-expert regularly takes down the best of Champagne with his meticulously made Tasmanian sparkling wines, and it’s made House of Arras one of the most highly regarded sparkling producers outside of France. With bottles like this Vintage Rosé, it’s not hard to see why. This sparkling rosé gets its character from cool-climate Tasmanian pinot noir and patient bottle ageing (often up to seven years, depending on the vintage), brimming with flavours like strawberry, Turkish delight and pistachio. A spectacular bottle to share over Christmas with your true besties.
16. Lanson Le Vintage Brut Champagne
Vintage Champagne is generally only made in the very best years, but what counts is always up for debate. For Champagne House Lanson, there are no shortcuts, meaning Le Vintage has only been made 12 times in the past two centuries, from 1874 to 2013. The beauty of such rare, occasional winemaking is that each vintage is truly unique. Some may be deep and rich, while others sit at the brighter, lighter end of the spectrum. Whatever the vintage, you’ll end up tasting flavours and smelling aromas that will never be repeated, which is a very cool way to drink wine.
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Other styles
17. Shady Lane Pet Nat Pinot
Despite being the oldest form of sparkling wine, pet nat (short for ‘pétillant naturel’, meaning ‘naturally sparkling') is still a bit of a mystery to many of us. Considering these once-fermented styles are almost always eye-poppingly coloured and packed with juicy-fresh flavours, we reckon they should definitely be on your radar – especially over Christmas. This sunset-coloured pinot pet nat from Shady Lane is a perfect intro, overflowing as it is with vibrant strawberry and raspberry flavours. It’s practically made for warm summer arvos.
18. Kylie Minogue 0% Sparkling Blanc
Our Kylie is probably the greatest national treasure this country has produced, and the fact she’s now adding wine to her extensive CV confirms it. While the Kylie Minogue range has plenty to explore (including some lovely rosés) we’re big fans of this non-alc sparkling. It’s floral and fresh and, try as we might, we just can’t get it out of our heads.
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19. Tempus One Peach Prosecco Spritz
Is there a more perfect party pick than a Spritz? Well, yes – if it’s a peach-flavoured prosecco Spritz in a convenient little can. Whether we’re swanning off to a Christmas catch-up, New Year’s Eve on a friend’s balcony (they’ve got those good fireworks views, of course) or just taking a break on the couch, these Tempus One cans are set to be a summer staple. It’s a mix of bubbly prosecco and soda, spiked with a dose of peach flavour. What else could you ask for?
20. Cipriani White Peach Bellini
Excuse us a moment while we drift off with some memories of sunny afternoons in Venice. The Bellini – a blend of white peach and prosecco – is one of the canal city’s greatest exports, and this batch-made version from Cipriani makes a simple drink even easier, packing its signature sweet-and-zesty flavours into a sparkling wine bottle. Consider this for Christmas mornings, summer sunsets and anytime a fresh hit of peachy prosecco will be welcome.
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