Celebrations and Champagne are the perfect partners; it’s deeply engrained in our culture to raise a glass of something sparkling when we’re making a toast.  Even the rigmarole around opening the bottle is part of the excitement – loosening the cage, the pop of the cork, the pressure of trying not to let the wine escape all over the place when you open it and the scrabble to catch every drop when you inevitably do…

Champagne

The key to Champagne selection is to find the house style that most appeals to you. Billecart Salmon is an elegant, fresh and clean style whereas Louis Roederer has a more full bodied and biscuity flavour.  Forget Brimont is a great quality Champagne house whose style falls somewhere in the middle.  Each Champagne house then makes a host of other wines that offer the lucky consumer plenty of choice. Rosé Champagnes have a lovely fruity flavour; Billecart Salmon Rose is very delicate and subtle where Forget Brimont Rose is more intensely fruity.  Then we have Blanc de Blancs Champagnes made exclusively from the Chardonnay grape which makes the wines very fresh and elegant.  For a very special occasion you may want to choosevintage Champagne which is made exclusively from the grapes from a single (exceptionally good) vintage.

Sparkling Wine

Of course not every celebration calls for Champagne and there are a host of fantastic quality wines from elsewhere that employ similar methods to make sparkling wine that are a little more sympathetic to our purses.  Our own label JN Sparkling has a light and fresh flavour that exudes class and sophistication and is absolutely perfect for parties, weddings and any festive celebration.

Prosecco is certainly enjoying the limelight at the moment and these fruity, bubbly, Italian wines are perfect for parties.   Add a little peach juice to turn your Prosecco into a Bellini which is bound to go down a treat.

We have a couple of recent additions to our sparkling wine range this year too. Sartarelli Spumante is another delightful Italian fizz that has been flying off our shelves since it arrived this summer.  It has a gorgeous fresh fruit flavour and makes the perfect aperitif.  The Portuguese Soalheiro Espumante is deliciously dry and crisp and very refreshing and goes brilliantly with a bowl of olives or some salty snacks.

Check out our complete range of Champagnes and Sparkling Wines