Panel tasting results: 30 mightily impressive English sparkling wines

The development of greater stocks of reserve wines means that UK sparkling producers are now able to make increasing quantities of non- and multi-vintage wines – and the results have clearly impressed our judges.

By Susie Barrie MW

published 23 June 2026

in Tastings

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Bottles of English sparkling wine — (Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)

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Tasting notes

Susie Barrie MW, Matt Hodgson and Dror Nativ MW tasted 66 wines, with 11 Outstanding and 40 Highly recommended

English sparkling wine: Panel tasting scores

What to eat with UK sparkling wines, by Fiona Beckett

Given that English fizz is of a similar quality to Champagne these days, is there anything to say about partnering them with food other than that they should work with similar dishes to Champagne?

That’s undeniably true, but it’s also good to think about how you might drink them from an English perspective.

Fish and chips is often trotted out – nothing wrong with that – but these quality wines would be excellent with more elevated seafood-based dishes such as grilled lobster, seared scallops or salmon en croute (sparkling wine has a real affinity with pastry).

There’s no reason why you can’t take them further afield, too. The impressive low- or no-dosage English sparkling would be great with raw fish dishes such as sushi, sashimi and carpaccio.

When it comes to English sparkling rosé, what about a summery Sunday lunch with rare roast fillet of beef or a butterflied leg of lamb, again rare, maybe cooked over coals?

Rosy-pink red meat is a surprisingly good match for sparkling rosé.

Susie Barrie

Susie Barrie MW is a wine writer and broadcaster who regularly appears on Saturday Kitchen, Daily Cooks and Great Food Live. She has also spoken on BBC Radio Two, LBC Radio and BBC Radio Scotland. As an author, she has penned Mitchell Beazley's Wine Made Easy 'Champagne and Sparkling Wines', as well as Discovering Wine Country - Northern Spain. Aside from Decanter, she contributes to The Sunday Times Magazine. She gives lectures and judges international wine competitions. Alongside her husband, Peter Richard MW, she runs the Winchester Wine School. They have their own website, susieandpeter.com.

Matt Hodgson

Matt Hodgson is owner of retailer Grape Britannia, which he founded in 2019 to focus on the English and Welsh wine industry, going on to win multiple Decanter Retailer Awards as specialist in this region. He is a judge at the WineGB Awards

Dror Nativ MW

Dror Nativ MW is a wine buyer for major retailer Marks & Spencer, responsible for South America as well as Bordeaux, Burgundy, England, Champagne and sparkling wine. Having begun his career in the hospitality sector, he has also worked in varying roles at Hayward Bros, Spar and Sainsbury’s.