Collection: Norrfolk Sparkling Wine

Discover sparkling wines grown and made in Norfolk, from elegant traditional-method wines and sparkling rosé to fresh, fruit-driven styles made using the Charmat method.

Norfolk's vineyards are producing an increasingly diverse range of sparkling wines. You'll find white and rosé wines, different grape varieties and different approaches to creating the bubbles themselves – all of which can have a noticeable effect on what ends up in your glass.

What is Norfolk sparkling wine like?

There isn't one single style of Norfolk sparkling wine.

Some are crisp, fresh and fruit-driven, with flavours such as apple, pear, citrus, elderflower and summer fruits. Others spend considerably longer ageing on their lees, developing greater complexity and flavours that can include brioche, toast and pastry alongside the fruit.

You'll also find sparkling rosé, bringing red-berry flavours such as strawberry and raspberry into the mix.

Understanding a few of the words on the bottle can help you choose between them.

Traditional Method or Charmat – what's the difference?

These are two different ways of creating sparkling wine.

With the traditional method, the second fermentation – the fermentation that creates the bubbles – takes place inside the individual bottle. The wine can then spend months or years resting on its lees before being disgorged.

That extended contact can give traditional-method sparkling wines greater complexity, with the familiar brioche, toast and biscuit characteristics often associated with Champagne and other traditionally made sparkling wines.

With the Charmat method, the second fermentation takes place in a pressurised tank rather than in each individual bottle.

This method tends to preserve more of the wine's fresh, aromatic and fruit-driven character. Prosecco is probably the best-known example of sparkling wine commonly made this way, although the grapes and resulting Norfolk wines can be quite different.

Neither method is inherently “better”. They simply produce different styles of sparkling wine.

What does Brut mean?

Brut refers to the sweetness of the finished sparkling wine – not the grape variety or the way it was made.

A Brut sparkling wine is relatively dry and is one of the styles you'll most commonly encounter.

You may also see Extra Brut, which generally contains even less residual sugar and therefore tends to taste particularly dry and crisp.

So a wine can be both traditional method and Brut: one term tells you how its bubbles were created, while the other gives you information about its sweetness.

What is Blanc de Blancs?

Blanc de Blancs literally means “white from whites”.

On a sparkling wine label it tells you that the wine has been made entirely from white grapes, rather than from a combination of white and red grape varieties.

It doesn't tell you how sweet the wine is, nor does the term itself tell you whether it was made using the traditional or Charmat method.

That's why you might see several of these descriptions together on the same bottle.

And what about sparkling rosé?

Sparkling rosé brings another dimension to Norfolk sparkling wine.

Its colour and red-fruit characteristics come from red grapes and the winemaking process used by the individual producer. Expect styles ranging from delicate, pale and elegant through to more pronounced strawberry, raspberry and summer-fruit flavours.

Like white sparkling wine, rosé can be produced using different methods and at different levels of sweetness.

Which Norfolk sparkling wine should I choose?

If you like fresh, lively and fruit-forward sparkling wine, look towards wines where the emphasis is on preserving the aromatic character of the grapes, including Charmat-method wines.

If you enjoy the toast, brioche and complexity associated with Champagne-style sparkling wines, look for traditional-method wines, particularly those that have spent an extended period ageing on their lees.

For something particularly dry, look for Extra Brut. For red-fruit flavours, explore sparkling rosé.

And if you're looking for something to celebrate with, the answer doesn't necessarily have to be Champagne. Norfolk's vineyards are producing sparkling wines with a character and provenance of their own.

Sparkling wine made in Norfolk

Our Norfolk Sparkling Wine collection brings together white and rosé sparkling wines produced by independent vineyards here in the county.

Different grapes, vintages and winemaking techniques mean the selection changes over time – from fresh, fruit-driven sparkling wines to complex traditional-method bottles that have spent years developing before release.

Explore our current selection of Norfolk sparkling wines below.