These Are The Best Sparkling Wines To Pop The Cork On This Summer

Looking forward to an in-person party season is a cause for celebration in itself. It’s time to pop the corks on some seriously good sparkling wines.

Champagne tastes

There is nothing quite like Champagne: France’s flagship sparkling wine, which can only be made in the northerly region, and is founded in its unique combination of climate, chalky slopes and more than three centuries of expertise. It has the coolness crucial to making high-quality fizz. Its hillsides maximise the sunlight, while the soils provide optimal conditions for vines to grow grapes with fine acids and flavours. Champagne has also been honing this style since the 17th century, and using the methode traditionnelle that’s behind most of the world’s finest sparkling wines.

Champagne Dom Perignon Brut Vintage 2012, $365.

While the 17th-century monk Dom Perignon may not have “invented” sparkling Champagne as the legend had it, he did pioneer many quality practices still used in the region today. His namesake Champagne house fittingly remains iconic, making only vintage wines that spend at least eight years in the cellar before their release. Dom Perignon’s complex 2012 vintage combines power and finesse, delivered in an ultrafine mousse. It counterpoises toasty notes reminiscent of nut biscuit and a rich, savoury dimension, with a taut lemony acidity fused with a stony mineral character.

Stockists: Glengarry Wines, The Good Wine Company, Caro’s, Vineonline.

Champagne Taittinger Brut Millesime 2015, $150.

Stockists: Woolworths Cellar Stores, Fine Wine Delivery Company, Glengarry, Liquorland Forrest Hill, Hamilton Wine Company.

Champagne Larmandier-Bernier Latitude Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut NV, $115.

There are an increasingly wide and interesting array of Champagnes being made by small producers from their own fruit, unlike the big houses that buy grapes from multiple sources. Larmandier-Bernier has been consistently making fine organic and biodynamic chardonnay-dominant examples in the grands crus of Champagne’s Côte des Blancs heartland. The Latitude is a fuller-bodied style, with a palate of ripe apple threaded with aromatic notes of fresh ginger and chamomile, and bright lemony acidity over a base of toasted almond.

Stockists: Moore Wilson’s, Dnfinewine.co.nz.

Champagne Ayala Brut Majeur NV

From the sister Champagne house to Bollinger comes the elegant Ayala Brut Majeur. Dominated by crisp citrus and apple, its palate builds to encompass a savoury dimension and an attractive hint of malt biscuit.

Stockists: The Fine Wine Delivery Company, Glengarry, Primo Vino, Smith & Caughey’s, First Glass.

Champagne Andre Clouet Brut Rosé No.5 NV, $90.

Bright apple, strawberry and raspberry fruit unite with floral notes in this dry and fragrant pink Champagne from small Champagne house Andre Clouet. A good-value example with depth and complexity.

Stockists: Moore Wilson’s, Dnfinewine.co.nz.

Champagne GH Mumm Grand Cordon Brut NV, $75.

This major Champagne house goes from strength to strength with the quality of its central Grand Cordon NV. A rounded style with notes of white fruits, praline, gingerbread and herb, cut by a fine line of fresh citrus, the example I tried also showed some pleasant toasty bottle age.

Stockists: Glengarry, Liquorland, The Good Wine, Moore Wilson’s, Countdown.

Aotearoan ebullience

Many of New Zealand’s finest sparkling wines are crafted using the same methode traditionnelle as Champagne. However, ours are different sparkling expressions, rising to the top of the world on their own in terms of quality. In Marlborough, a group of wineries making wines in this way have united under the umbrella of “Methode Marlborough”, which also requires all wines using this label to be aged on their lees for a minimum of 18 months (several months more than the minimum for non-vintage Champagne). Impressive sparkling wines are also emanating from elsewhere in New Zealand, largely from the cooler South Island.

Quartz Reef Methode Traditionnelle Central Otago Vintage Rosé 2016, $110.

A seriously good sparkling rosé that came top of my tasting for the style and is one of the best being made today in Aotearoa. The first vintage rosé release from a top local sparkling producer, this 100 per cent pinot noir was aged for an impressive 60 months on its lees. Its gentle flavours of strawberries and cream, with a hint of crisp apple, are joined by a subtle bready undercurrent and elevated by an elegant minerally freshness. Very limited quantities made, with the next release some years off.

Stockist: Quartzreef.co.nz.

Esses Pia Methode Traditionnelle Extra Brut Kaikōura NV, $45.

From a relatively new methode traditionnelle specialist down in Kaikoura comes this stylish, creamy-textured non-vintage. Taut, intense and pure-fruited, the flavours of this very dry “extra brut” span citrus notes from edgy grapefruit to richer ones reminiscent of lemon tart, along with hints of quince, mineral and an understated toasty characater.

Stockist: Esseswine.com.

Tohu Rewa Blanc de Blancs Methode Traditionnelle 2016, $40.

A fresh and fine vintage chardonnay release from this Methode Marlborough member. Tangy citrus and green apple fruits and notes of mineral salts drive the palate, with depth added by nuances of toasted hazelnut and brioche.

Stockists: The Good Wine, Liquorland Newmarket, New World Victoria Park, Liquorland Parnell, Merchants Fenchurch St.

No 1 Family Estate Assemble Methode Marlborough NV, $34.

Pretty notes of lifted lemon, lemon balm and sweet fennel are at the fore in this Methode Marlborough, joined by notes of toasted nut, leading to a fresh finish. A bright and great value Methode Marlborough from this veteran sparkling specialist with its familial roots in Champagne.

Stockists: Glengarry, First Glass Wines & Spirits, Point Wines, Farro Fresh.

Lindauer Free Alcohol Removed Brut NV, $18.

If you’re not drinking alcohol over the party season, you need not forgo the fizz with a number of decent alcohol-free examples readily available. You wouldn’t immediately pick that this pioneering local Lindauer alcohol-free fizz sat at just 0.5 per cent abv given its palate is far from dilute, or sweet, as low- or no-alcohol wines could be in the past. Made as full-strength sparkling wine but with the most of its alcohol removed before bottling, it’s dry, with some palate weight, and notes of citrus and apple pie.

Stockists: New World, Pak’nSave, Countdown, Liquorland, Super Liquor.

Natty bubbles

This party season sees an explosion of pet-nats on the market, whose light, refreshing and easy-drinking nature makes them perfect for the summer’s social imbibing. Pet-nat is short for petillant naturel, “naturally sparkling” wines made by the Methode Ancestrale. In this method, the wine is bottled while still fermenting, which is finished off in-bottle, producing the style’s spritz. Some are filtered for clarity, others left with all their yeasty goodness and released cloudy. This sediment means these can be a little wild on opening. To minimise spills, ideally keep pet-nats still and store upright for a few days prior to drinking, and then chill well in ice before cracking the cap. Have your glasses at the ready in case you need to pour quickly.

Mount Edward Pet-Nat Central Otago Chenin Blanc 2022, $39.

Don’t be deceived by the fact that this looks like cloudy lemonade, this top pet-nat from chenin blanc has lots more going on. Certified organic and vegan-friendly, it possesses some good intensity and weaves aromatic strands of grapefruit zest and blossom, with layers of apple, creme patissiere and lemon curd.

Stockists: Glengarry, Point Wines, Everyday Wine, Winedirect.co.nz, Mineral.co.nz .

Silver Wing Nada Waipara Rosé Pet-Nat 2022, $38.

An ultra-refreshing sparkling rosé pet-nat made from 100 per cent organic but uncertified pinot noir in a ceramic egg. It’s light, dry and pure-fruited with zesty green apple and bright berry fruit. A pure celebration of summer with nada additives.

Stockists: Everyday Wines, Point Wines, Regional Wines, Bare Wines, Hamilton Beer and Wine.

Hunter’s Offshoot Marlborough Pet Nat Sauvignon Blanc 2022, $25.

Hunter’s are best known for pioneering sauvignon blanc and quality sparkling wines. The two successfully collide in this punchy pet-nat with its gentle spritz. Intense green sauvignon characters of nettle and oregano meld with notes of grapefruit zest, bitter lemon and frisson of passionfruit on its fresh finish.

Stockists: Herne Bay Cellars, Super Liquor Waikanae, Hamilton Beer and Wine, Eurovintage.co.nz, Winefreedom.co.nz.

Fizz from further afield

There are plenty of other cool places around the world that are the source of exciting bubbles.

Domaine Vincent Careme L’Ancestrale, Vouvray, France 2019, $50.

Here’s an impressive new vintage of pet-nat that’s just landed in Aotearoa, made by rising star producer Vincent Careme from chenin blancs in the variety’s classic Vouvray region. With a crispness akin to biting into a fresh apple, this seriously good example is very fresh, pure, dry and minerally with a lovely intensity to its apple and citrus fruit.

Stockist: Dnfinewine.co.nz.

Col de’ Salici Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Brut, Italy 2020, $29.

Treat yourself to an impressive prosecco from the prime Valdobbiadene area. The Col de’ Salici is dry and pure with fragrant notes of honeysuckle and crunchy citrus, apple and watermelon fruit.

Stockists: West Liquor Stores, Liquorlands, Hamilton Beer and Wine, Mount Wine Barrel.

Still Life Big Fizz Field Blend, Western Australia 2020, $29.

While labelled as a sparkling rosé, Big Fizz is more akin to a light red in its robust palate that melds notes of strawberries and cream with a darker fruited kir-like blackcurrant character. It’s fresh, fun and easy drinking, and made from great fruit. Hand-harvested, it’s a biodynamically grown field blend of the white varieties chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and sémillon, with the red merlot and cabernet sauvignon from 20-year-old un-irrigated vines.

Stockists: Everyday Wine, Cult Wine.

Privat Reserva Cava Brut, Spain 2018, $35.

An elegant and complex vintage version of Spain’s most famous sparkler, which is also made by the methode traditionnelle. This dry organic example calls to mind honey on buttered, nutty, toasted rye bread, topped with crisp apple and a twist of minerally citrus.

Stockists: Stvincentscave.com, Hamilton Beer and Wine, Vetro Mediterranean Foods, Regional Wines and Spirits.