I popped into my local Majestic last Friday to pick up two bottles of Champagne. ‘I need a good one and a bad one,’ I told the bemused saleswoman. ‘I’m staying with friends in the country for whom I must bring a gift.’ Blank stare. ‘Ah yes, and some are doing a triathlon on Sunday, so I also need something to hose them down with.’
Lord knows what I ended up buying for the latter, but the gift was an obvious choice — albeit not Champagne per se. A week earlier, Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs 2016 Magnum had been crowned Champion Sparkling Wine at the International Wine Challenge. I saw a bottle of the West Sussex label’s Classic Cuvée in the fridge and looked no further.
A week later, Nyetimber was named Winery of the Year by The Real Review and the award for Sparkling Rosé of the Year went to 1086 by Nyetimber Rosé 2013 (named for the Domesday Book, which cited the valley of Nitimbreha). Since its first vines were planted in 1988, the label has become the official partner of England Rugby and a pick for paired dinners in the capital’s top restaurants. As the grape harvest begins across the UK this week, 2025 is shaping up to be the winery’s best vintage yet.
Half an hour away is Highweald, which won the Champion English Sparkling trophy at the International Wine Challenge in 2022. In August, it launched a series of tours and tastings. ‘A sunny spring and summer means more sugar in the grapes,’ explains Phoebe French of WineGB, who attended the grand opening. Grapes convert sunlight into sugar via photosynthesis, which accentuates the wine’s alcohol content upon fermentation and creates more consistency across a vintage.
Consumers are beginning to show love to the local terroir. ‘Our English sparkling sales have doubled from 2022,’ says Peter Mitchell, wine director at Jeroboams. Still, the changing climate has not produced that many new names so far. It remains a niche industry compared with its French counterpart, with Britain producing 10 million sparkling-wine bottles versus 300 million in Champagne in 2024.
Wineries that are already household names, however, are expanding — and tourism is booming. During harvest season, the number of people volunteering to pick grapes has grown so much that many vineyards now have to impose waiting lists. Enthusiasm has also grown far beyond the traditional Kent and Sussex strongholds: seasoned connoisseurs around me speak excitedly about this being a great year for Welsh reds.
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