Your basket is empty
Already have an account? Log in to check out faster.
Eight Unusual Sparkling Wines to Explore This New Year’s Eve
New traditions are cropping up in cool climate countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, while regions with older sparkling wine industries continue to perfect their craft. Some of these wines are made in the image of Champagne, while others offer curiously unique alternatives. Kick 2025 off right with any of these eight sparkling wines from around the world.
EIGHT GLOBAL SPARKLING WINES
Lambrusco
Prosecco may be Italy’s most famous effervescent export, but try Lambrusco for the perfect introduction into the rare world of sparkling reds. Made in the same Charmat method as Prosecco (quicker and fresher in style than the Champagne method yields), Lambrusco ranges from bone dry to delightfully sweet. The different Lambrusco varieties give surprisingly diverse results. Lambrusco Grasparossa is dark, brooding, and tannic; Lambrusco Salamino is midweight and savory; and Lambrusco di Sorbara is light, bright, and floral.
Bairrada Espumante
While Espumante (sparkling wine) can be found across Portugal, Bairrada remains the country’s major territory for bubbles. Coming from a cool, coastal region that also yields elegant, expressive still wines, Bairrada Espumante is typically made from a suite of native Portuguese varieties, such as the white Bical, Maria Gomes, and Cerceal and the red Baga. There is a range of styles and quality—from easy-drinking off-dry sparkling rosés to fine wines made with the Champagne method. Like with its Spanish sparkling neighbor, Cava, the best Bairrada Espumante is bold and powerful, with persistent bubbles and riper fruit flavors.
Sekt
In Germany and Austria, sparkling wine is called Sekt. These wines can come in a wide range of quality levels, but the best German versions are often categorized as Winzersekt. Winzersekt must utilize the Champagne method and be harvested from estate-grown fruit. While Sekt and Winzersekt are commonly produced from the Champagne varieties, Riesling is also frequently employed—offering its gorgeous stony precision and soft floral notes to its wines.
English Sparkling Wine
The British have been influential customers in the Champagne industry for centuries—their national palate helping mold the world’s most famous sparkling wine into what it is today. More recently, however, the British have become expert sparkling winemakers in their own right as a national wine country has quickly emerged in the South of England (as well as Wales). Perhaps this should be unsurprising—the same chalk caldera that forms the famous white soils of Champagne extends to the White Cliffs of Dover. The best English Sparklers are refined, piercingly acidic, and nearly indistinguishable from Champagne.
Bugey-Cerdon
Sandwiched between Lyon and, across the Swiss border, Geneva, the charming Alpine wine region of Savoie contributes to France’s portfolio of bubbles with their Bugey-Cerdon. Deep rosé in style, and often with a touch of sweetness, Bugey-Cerdon is crafted from Poulsard and Gamay and is generally made in the méthode ancestrale, a predecessor to the Champagne method that only undergoes one, rather than two, fermentations to gain its effervescence. These frothy wines are cheerfully redolent of strawberries and cream.
Sparkling Shiraz
While Tasmania yields the most classic sparklers Down Under, Australia’s more distinctive bubbles come in the form of sparkling Shiraz. Shiraz (the same as Syrah) is the country’s most planted grape variety, creating sumptuously rich, plummy, meaty wines with suave, velvety tannins. Sparkling Shiraz often tastes simply like a bubbly version of this, commonly marked by oak and perhaps with a kiss of sweetness. While also a rare sparkling red, it tastes entirely different than Lambrusco and makes for suspiring and decadent winter sipping.
Nova Scotia Sparkling Wine
Canada’s most northerly wine region, Nova Scotia produces some of the greatest sparkling wines in North America. Made from Champagne grapes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, these wines are finely chiseled with electrifying acidity—reflective of the cold marginal climes from which they are born. Vineyards are generally concentrated around the Annapolis and Gaspereau Valleys, backdropped by the Bay of Fundy.
Cap Classique
Sparkling winemaking was first introduced to South Africa by French Huguenots, with the earliest bottles referenced as Kaapse Vonkel, or ‘Cape sparkle.’ In 1992, a group of the country’s proudest producers of bubbles banded together to found the Cap Classique Producers Association. Cap Classique wines are rich, ripe, and always made by the traditional Champagne method. They can include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, as well as the South African specialty Chenin Blanc.
