Champagne alternatives: 25 great bottles to stock up on

We live in a truly effervescent world and my pick of 25 sparkling wines from around the globe proves it – and not one of them is from Champagne. They show that compelling bubbles can be made outside the world’s foremost fizz region.

My aim in selecting these wines was simple: to provide inspiration for joyful bubbles that are just a little off the beaten track.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for 25 sparkling wines from around the globe

I also wanted a global span and to include a few wines that stray from the usual grape varieties of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, even though these stalwarts show their mettle in numerous spots here and score highly – above all, Chardonnay.

Setting the bar

In terms of traditional-method fizz, we have to admit that Champagne continues to be the yardstick against which all others are measured. By the same token, Champagne and the methods used in its production are what everyone looks to when they aspire to make high-quality, bottle fermented sparkling wine. This means careful site and vine selection, viticulture aimed at the different acidity and ripeness parameters required of base wines for sparkling rather than still wines. It also means different regimes for pressing grapes and, in many cases, blending across grape varieties, sites and vintages.

Why all this technical stuff? The production of fine fizz is a very involved process, and really the opposite of the much-vaunted ‘low-intervention winemaking’ so many now ascribe to. Making fine sparkling wine is the result of an infinite matrix of decisions – and requires immense expertise and experience, as well as intuition and creativity. The wines on the pages that follow show how well this process is being mastered by so many.

The most beautiful thing is that in place of Champagne’s defining and celebrated Cretaceousera chalk soils, the wines here are expressions of their place – of oceanic briskness, of Alpine altitudes, of luminous sunshine; but also of indigenous varieties. When fine sparkling wine is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, it remains comparable to Champagne. But what if Chenin Blanc is used? Or, as I was thrilled to taste, Baga from Portugal, or Zweigelt from Austria? Then the rules of the game change again and, depending on intention, site and grape variety, wildly different styles appear that are harder to compare but just as wonderful to explore and appreciate.

Lighten the mood

So what to look for? For me, the greatest virtue of traditional-method sparkling wine is lightness. When you pop that cork you want refreshment and uplift – heaviness has no place. Let me be clear: there are some rounder, fuller-bodied wines here, some mature wines with lots of depth – yet there is no heaviness at all. The other thing I look for beyond balance, fine mousse and freshness is personality, and some of the wines in this line-up have it in abundance.

And one last thing: some of the wines clearly fall into the aperitif-spectrum, ideal for whetting the appetite and getting the juices to flow. Others, however, call for food. So let some of these wines be your dinner companions – see how well they deal with spice, with richer foods, with cheese, with dishes that combine savoury flavours with fruit. There is nothing to lose and much to discover, so go off-piste on an effervescent world tour this festive season.

Champagne alternatives: 25 top sparkling wines from around the globe

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