'The whole idea was to create a bit of a two fingers to the likes of Whispering Angel': Raise a glass to England's sparkling rosé

Wedding wine isn’t what it used to be. Where once you would be toasting the happy couple with Champagne (or, if you were unlucky, sticky demi-sec bought in bulk near the Calais car-ferry terminal), your glass is increasingly likely to contain English sparkling wine — and, if it’s a summer wedding, the chances are this will be pink.

One name in particular has become as ubiquitous in smart marquees as it has in the likes of Fortnum & Mason and The Savoy: Nyetimber. For Brad Greatrix, senior winemaker at the West Sussex producer, sparkling rosé ‘lends itself naturally to what English grapes provide. 'Because of our long, gentle growing season, we can preserve all those beautiful high-toned fruit flavours and carry them over. We say it’s English summer fruits in a glass’.

He and his wife, head winemaker Cherie Spriggs, worked with Nyetimber’s owner Eric Heerema to produce its first sparkling rosé in 2007, using Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir grapes (exactly the same blend as Champagne), the latter fermented with skins to lend a salmon-pink hue. This was followed in 2010 by 1086 by Nyetimber Rosé, a prestige cuvée (‘to be taken seriously on the world stage, we knew we needed them’).

As a nation, we can’t get enough of rosé: a recent report from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) revealed that some 129 million bottles of it were sold in the UK last year, with sparkling rosé proving increasingly popular at Christmas and Easter. Yet, when Nyetimber’s English version first came to market, people didn’t quite know what to make of it, recalls Greatrix.

‘There was a certain amount of initial apprehension because it wasn’t super pale.’ ‘People tend to drink with their eyes first and they think [a darker rosé] is going to be sticky, sweet and unpleasant,’ agrees Callum Edge, marketing director at Nyetimber’s West Sussex neighbour Sugrue, whose wines have been served at Windsor Castle.

Winemakers Dermot and Ana Sugrue bottled their first sparkling rosé a decade ago, after receiving a ‘glut of exceptional Pinot Noir grapes from a vineyard in Hampshire’. Rosé Ex Machina (‘because it came out of nowhere’) is ‘limpid, deeply coloured and fragrant… it’s now 10 years old and I think it’s absolutely in the zone right now’.

There was a second iteration in 2018 and a late release that year, which had spent 80 months on lees (in contact with its natural yeast sediments, which lend richness).

Cellar ageing of sparkling rosé is uncommon, but Sugrue has always strived to make ‘wines that are age-worthy and can go the distance’. Buoyed by this success, the Sugrues launched their first still rosé last year. Dear Noodles, named after a much-missed lurcher-greyhound cross, is an oak-aged blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier described by Edge as ‘an experiment’.

Unlike the first still English rosés, which tended to ape the popular Provençal, paler-than-pale style, it’s ‘almost like a pale red: we were inspired by those deep rosé wines of Bandol and Rioja’. He admits: ‘The whole idea was to create a bit of a two fingers to the likes of Whispering Angel.’

Despite its deliberately unflashy packaging — there’s no skittle-shaped bottle or even a label — ‘we made 2,000 and they absolutely flew out’. A follow-up, Dear Tara, named for another beloved dog, is being bottled as we speak.

It’s often said that global warming has been a boon for English winemaking, but the reality is more complicated, particularly where still wines are concerned. Unlike summers in the world rosé capital of the south of France, English ones remain unpredictable, if increasingly warm, which can lead to inconsistent ripening and disease vulnerability. A cold snap or downpours such as those the country experienced in May can potentially lay waste to a whole year’s work overnight.

‘I heard the phrase climate chaos rather than climate change recently,’ Edge says. For as long as English vineyards are relatively small-scale operations, meanwhile, cost will remain a sticking point for many consumers. ‘The biggest challenge is price: even still English wines are not cheap for most wine drinkers.’

Yet there are undoubtedly upsides to the fact that lots of the vineyards producing English rosé have a boutique set-up — the ‘farm-gate’ feel of many, with producers running informal tours and tastings as well as supplying local independent businesses, makes experimentation feel less daunting.

‘Our wines are very approachable,’ notes Tim Dutton of Two Beacons Vineyard. Proof that not all the best English wines come from the Home Counties, he and co-founder Ceri Phipps, an old school friend, have made their base between the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Beacons.

The area has a history of winemaking stretching back to the 13th century; before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Pershore Abbey had a flourishing vineyard, the name of which remains on maps. In 2016, after discovering they shared an interest in the burgeoning English wine-making scene, Dutton and Phipps settled on a low-lying, south-facing plot sheltered by shrubs and hedges at the foot of the Malvern Hills, which they planted with Bacchus, Pinot Noir Precoce (an early- ripening variety) and regular Pinot Noir, with the intention of making both sparkling and still wines.

In less than a decade, Two Beacons has grown into a serious contender on the international stage and was awarded three silver medals at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, one of which was for its 2022 Late Release Sparkling Rosé Pinot Noir. Light, subtle and delicate, it has the juicy red-fruit notes so characteristic of English sparkling rosés. ‘I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t liked it,’ Dutton says simply.

Nyetimber, meanwhile, now has partnerships with the Lawn Tennis Association and Henley Regatta and its mint-green 1968 Routemaster is a familiar sight during the summer Season, drawing crowds wherever it goes. ‘It certainly wasn’t like that in the early days,’ Greatrix laughs. ‘During my first five years here, if I bumped into an acquaintance and they asked me what I did, they assumed we were buying the fruit from abroad because there couldn’t be any grapes in England. Now, I’ll be at the playground with my daughter and other parents will say: “Oh, we had Nyetimber for our anniversary.”’

Reaching for a bottle of English sparkling rosé when we’re in the mood to celebrate is certainly happy news, but Greatrix emphasises that there’s nothing lightweight or frivolous about the wine itself. ‘Rosé in general is a style that is underestimated by a lot of people, because the strongest association is the colour,’ he believes. ‘Ours isn’t a blush version of our white wines — we’re making a rosé for all the senses.'

This feature originally appeared in the August 5, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.