South African ripostes to champagne, called Cap Classique, offer surely the best value today, rivalled by France’s Crémants. All the wines listed below are made in the same way as champagne, by the traditional method, which involves ageing a wine on the lees of a second fermentation in bottle. They are all either 12% or 12.5% and Brut unless otherwise stated. Wines described as Extra Brut are even drier, and Zero Dosage means bone dry. (See the table in the dosage entry in The Oxford Companion to Wine for a fuller description of these terms.)
The prices below are for single-bottle purchases but many retailers, notably Majestic and Lea & Sandeman, offer substantial discounts to those who buy at least six bottles, which may be mixed. Note that Waitrose Cellar wines are available only online.
Graham Beck, Vintner’s Selection Rosé Cap Classique NV Western Cape
No one makes better-value fizz than Graham Beck and his head winemaker Pieter Ferreira, who take advantage of a ‘perpetual reserve’, a solera of older vintages. Pale strawberry pink. Sophisticated nose and intense strawberry fruit that really delivers. Even if it’s not the driest fizz, it has great balance.
£14 Tesco, £17 Waitrose
Sieur d’Arques, Cuvée Royale NV Crémant de Limoux
A bit too frothy for me, but a convincing copy of the Blanc de Blancs all-Chardonnay champagne recipe with just a little (20%) Chenin Blanc, and Pinot Noir, influence.
£14 Waitrose
Prince Alexandre NV Crémant de Loire
Tastes more of the apples and honey of Chenin Blanc than of Chardonnay. Light-bodied and well made.
£15.50 Waitrose
Moillard, Prestige Chardonnay 2021 Crémant de Bourgogne 11.5%
Clean, fresh, zesty and very well priced. Better than Majestic’s Crémant de Bourgogne.
£16 Tesco
Domaine de la Croisée Comtoise NV Crémant du Jura
The Savagnin component adds interest and tang to what would otherwise taste like a bargain Chardonnay-dominated champagne. Very complete and mouth-filling.
£17 The Wine Society
Steenberg, 1682 Chardonnay Cap Classique NV Western Cape
Toasty and rewarding with a gentle texture. But this flattering South African wine should be drunk reasonably soon.
£17.50 VINVM
Domaine des Dieux, Rose of Sharon Cap Classique 2016 Cape South Coast
Another fantastic bargain from South Africa, the cool south coast this time. Great price for a rosé that’s nearly 10 years old and spent nearly eight years soaking up flavour from the lees. One of the palest rosés.
£19.95 Stone, Vine & Sun
Clotilde Davenne Extra Brut NV Crémant de Bourgogne
Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend from Chablis country, based on the 2019 vintage. Very delicate mousse. Lighter-bodied than a typical champagne but otherwise an awfully good stand-in.
£20.95 Stone, Vine & Sun
Keush, Origins NV Armenia
A real find based on ungrafted centenarian Voskehat vines with a little Khatouni, another Armenian wine grape. Bone dry and clean as a whistle after 22 months on the lees.
£21 The Wine Society, £22.50 Amathus
Nitida, The Matriarch Cap Classique 2021 Durbanville
Some evidence of clever ageing here and an attractive chalky texture. Not the driest fizz around but this Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend is another steal.
£21.95 Sugarbird Wines
Nicolas Brunet, Bulle Nature NV Vouvray
Full of Chenin Blanc fruit. Really rewarding with honey flavours, but if you are looking for a bone-dry fizz, forget it. As a fan of the sparkling wines that Huet used to make, I’d be tempted though.
£22.50 Amathus
Balfour, 1503 Rosé NV England
Pale peach colour. Muted aroma but this satisfying mouthful packed with English fruit has clearly been well blended.
£24 Majestic
Jean de Foigny Premier Cru NV Champagne
Castelnau’s own label for The Wine Society. The taste profile is not unlike that of the Balfour 1503: not much nose, but attractively fruity on the palate. Easy to like and a bargain for a champagne, though it’s certainly not a really fine champagne.
£24.31 The Wine Society
Rieger, Alte Rebe Weisser Burgunder Sekt 2020 Baden
Biodynamic Pinot Blanc from southern Germany, where the standard of sparkling wine, Sekt, has been rising dramatically. Racy and mouth-filling. Well made.
£25 Amathus
Domaine Boxler 2020 Crémant d’Alsace
Blend of Pinots and 52 months on the lees. Serious wine for the price. Rather frothy texture but lovely flavours and interest from an admirable producer. For those who like some bottle age.
£25 The Wine Society
Ken Forrester, Sparklehorse Chenin Blanc Cap Classique 2022 Stellenbosch
A little neutral but bright, refreshing and lots of fun.
£26.45 Shelved Wine
Nicolo & Paradis, Tradition NV Champagne
Lots of evolution. Rich, well-priced, and useful for those who like a mature champagne.
£27 Amathus
Langham, Culver Classic Cuvée Extra Brut NV England
Pinot-dominated bottling from the Dorset team that won hands-down at this year’s English wine awards. For an Extra Brut, this is supremely creamy and accessible, with considerable breadth of fruit. A wine that makes you take notice.
£33.95 langhamwine.co.uk
Claude Renoux, Blanc de Noirs NV Champagne
Real punch and life. Pure, sleek and with a little saline note. Worth seeking out.
£36 Amathus
René Jolly, Blanc de Blancs NV Champagne
Not a bad price! Good transparent fruit in very much a grower-champagne style.
£38 Waitrose Cellar
René Jolly, Rosé d’Assemblage NV Champagne
Mid strawberry pink. Intensely fruity. Really uninhibited, distinctive champagne! Good persistence.
£38 Waitrose Cellar
Roebuck, Rosé de Noirs 2018 England
Complex, beautifully balanced Pinot aromas. Quite firm with an attractive note of bitterness on the end. I’d suggest drinking this with food – could be a treat with cold turkey and might even work with smoked salmon.
£39.95 The Whisky Exchange, £42 roebuckestates.co.uk
Ancre Hill, Blanc de Noirs Dosage Zéro 2018 Wales 10.5%
Certified biodynamic 100% Pinot Noir from a determinedly minimal-intervention wine producer in Monmouth. Nearly five years on lees. Hugely distinctive and deep-flavoured despite its lack of added sweetness.
£40 Libation
Nicolas Maillart, Platine Extra Brut Premier Cru NV Champagne
A blend of four vintages back to 2014. Smoky aroma and satisfying breadth on the palate with a hint of buttered toast.
£43.95 Lea & Sandeman
Breaky Bottom, Cuvée Peter Christiansen Seyval Blanc 2014 England
Based, most unusually, on the Seyval Blanc grape. Vines were planted decades ago in East Sussex by the visionary Peter Hall, who died recently. Five years’ lees ageing.
£43 Corney & Barrow
Billecart Salmon, Le Réserve NV Champagne
Aged more than four years on the lees. Based on 2020 but with 60% older wine. Serious, sophisticated wine.
£46 The Wine Society
Bruno Paillard, Première Cuvée Extra Brut NV Champagne
The pioneer of information-rich back labels presents this multi-vintage blend of 30 chalk-rich crus with relatively low dosage and serious intent.
£48 Wanderlust
Graham Beck, Cuvée Clive Cap Classique 2019 Western Cape
This excellent specialist producer’s most ambitious wine, aged for five years on lees. Deep gold. Tense and vibrating away! The standout wine of an extensive Cap Classique tasting.
£54 VINVM
Sugrue South Downs, Rosé Ex Machina 2018 England
Deliciously fruity and seductive with perfect fruit/acid balance. Fully mature from this super-ripe vintage.
£55 sugruesouthdowns.com
Wiston Estate, Blanc de Noirs 2018 England
This 100% Pinot Noir wine would have been made by Dermot Sugrue (see above). Very explosive and flirtatious. Nicely balanced with a little brioche note. Delicate and energetic. No shortage of acidity ; almost sabre-like cut.
£56 wistoneestate.com, £59 Hedonism
Legras & Haas, L’Évidence, Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Chouilly Grand Cru NV Champagne
Based on the Legras family’s oldest, hilltop vines and the generous 2018 vintage. Already quite a complex nose. A seriously punchy, pure, flirtatious bone-dry aperitif.
£57.95 AG Wines
Hundred Hills, Blanc de Noirs 2019 England
This Chilterns wine could actually be sold as a (very pale) rosé. Fairly rich nose. Really mouth-filling. Round and super-clean. Complete. Very much a gastro-wine. Just lovely already and reaches every nook and cranny on the palate.
£58 The Finest Bubble
Thiénot, Cuvée Alain Thiénot 2008 Champagne
Quite complex with a creamy texture and a jewelly, crystalline impression on the palate. Very neat and very classic in that it’s such an obviously well-judged Chardonnay-dominant blend. Just the ticket for current drinking.
£79.95 The Champagne Company, £80 Hedonism
Drappier, Grande Sendrée 2010 Champagne
Single-vineyard wine from an eco-conscious family producer that’s really quite evolved aromatically. Very piercing and dense. Extremely intense and persistent with a very fine mousse. Almost more of a wine than a champagne.
£84 The Finest Bubble
AR Lenoble, Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru 2012 Champagne
From Chouilly. Savoury and white-burgundy-like on the nose. Really toasty and rewarding on the palate. Even a suggestion of walnuts. Fresh and appetising on the end but not at all austere. Very long, vigorous and already quite evolved from a fine vintage.
£85.40 Millésima UK
Billecart-Salmon, Cuvée Nicolas François 2006 Champagne
Very firm nose and a tingling, grapefruit-juice sort of flavour. Really lingering palate with definite richness. Intriguing and rewarding.
£122.24 Brunswick Wine & Spirits
Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru 2014 Champagne
Lusciously creamy nose. Tiny, dense bubbles and still quite a bit of tension and marked acidity on the palate. There’s no hurry at all to drink this! Strong lemon notes on the end. Very tightly wound. A luxurious wine.
£122.40 Four Walls, £122.50 Honest Grapes
Dom Pérignon 2013 Champagne
The 2013s are generally less expensive than the lauded 2012s but wines made from late-picked grapes, such as this one, Moët’s prestige cuvée, are expected to come into their own with time.
£160 Hedonism
Laurent-Perrier, Grand Siècle No 26 NV Champagne
Believe it or not, this is a pretty good price for a fabulous prestige champagne, a blend of their very best wines from 2012, 2008 and 2007 given a full 10 years’ ageing on the lees. Just coming into its glorious own.
£175 DBM Wines
Krug, Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition NV Champagne
Based on the 2017 vintage but with 150 ingredients back to 2001, this latest version of understated luxury seems more immediately – and, as usual, impressively – accessible than usual.
£181.99 Lay & Wheeler, £194 The Finest Bubble
Pol Roger, Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2013 Champagne
This top bottling was launched in 1984 with the 1975 vintage. As Pol Roger put it, ‘not as a prestige cuvée but as a tribute cuvée’. A still-youthful wine with wonderful tension, freshness and real drive. Great density and still needs time to unfurl completely.
£209 92 Or More, £210 Ellis Wharton Wines
Bollinger, Vieilles Vignes Françaises 2016 Champagne
Made from pre-phylloxera Pinot Noir vines, only in the best vintages. Extremely mellow, rich nose – like essence of Pinot Noir! – presumably thanks to the plant material, vine age and long lees-ageing. Dry, lingering finish. A food wine, or wine to meditate over. A true thrill to experience. A wine that takes you on a journey as you taste through from the rich start to the dry finish.
£1,438 Berry Bros & Rudd
For detailed tasting notes, scores and suggested drinking dates, see our tasting notes database. For international stockists, see Wine-searcher.com.
