12 best English sparkling wines to toast with

Score: 88/100

Chapel Down is the UK’s largest wine maker, and was one of the first brands to put English sparkling wine on the map. Bursting with crisp green apple, lemon and lime, this celebration wine could happily fill the gap where you’d ordinarily sip champagne. Try pairing with fish and chips or seafood risotto.

Score: 87/100

Located just outside the picturesque town of Rye, East Sussex, lies Oxney’s Soil Association-certified organic vineyard. Displaying rich, ripe notes of brioche and red apple, backed up with passionfruit, peach and mango, our panel found this one refreshing and well-defined.

Score: 86/100

Don’t let the deceptively sweet nose — honey, elderflower and pear drops — fool you into thinking this sparkling wine is anything but dry.

Made from a blend of vintages, baked apple and pronounced brioche is balanced by lively citrus acidity, creating a refreshing sparkler. If you’re looking for an alternative to champagne for special occasions, we think this is perfect.

Score: 86/100

Made in leafy Hampshire, Coates & Seely’s “Britagne” (pronounced “brit-an-ye” rather than rhyming with champagne), is every bit as complex as its French counterpart.

It won our panel over with notes of green apple, lemon and buttery richness. In fact, they were such fans of this well-structured, indulgent wine, they felt it was a dead ringer for champagne.

Score: 86/100

Made by Balfour’s Hush Heath estate for Tesco, these grapes are hand harvested to make a wine brimming with buttered brioche, apricot and lemon.

Expect pretty aggressive bubbles and plenty of refreshing acidity. The long-lasting finish adds a welcome complexity that you may not expect to find at this price.

Score: 84/100

This cuvée is made from a blend of traditional sparkling wine grapes – chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier – grown on Waitrose’s very own Hampshire vineyard.

Testers enjoyed its dry and refreshing nature, picking out ripe orchard fruits, lemon curd and a whiff of biscuit that would pair well with smoked salmon blinis.

Score: 83/100

Daylesford’s English sparkling blush is pure elegance. It displays an aromatic bouquet of wildflowers, lavender and freshly cut grass, reminiscent of the Kent and West Sussex plots the grapes were sourced from.

And with tasting notes of sweet summer berries and blossom, this would be a decadent pairing alongside an indulgent afternoon tea.

Score: 82/100

Camel Valley’s flagship wine is fresh and fruity, making it ideal for almost every occasion. And while not hugely aromatic, it more than makes up for it on the palate, with a fruit-forward thwack of lemon, honey and peach.

Score: 81/100

Davenport’s gold-flecked fizz is teaming with honey, tropical fruit and peach. Our testers raved about this organic wine, which impressed us with its long, complex nutty finish. If you can bear to wait, this will only get more impressive with age.

Score: 81/100

The bassist from iconic Britpop band Blur has created this classic sparkling wine with the same traditional method used to make champagne.

The result is dry, green aromas and flavours with tart citrus and subtle buttery notes. Our testers found it very pleasant to drink – either as an aperitif or paired with a creamy pasta dish.

Score: 80/100

Named after the precise latitude of Gusbourne’s Kent and Sussex vineyards, the aromas of lemon, wet stones, grass and gasoline in this luxury English sparkling reminded our testers of a riesling.

The palate was tart and sharp with a sweeter finish that tasted like orange blossom. Testers felt this would work well with canapés for a very fancy dinner party thanks to its mellow citrus notes.