A wall full of stacked bottles of sparkling wine beyond endless rows of bottles of Franciacorta, Lombardy, Italy.

May 22, 2015

7 Sparkling Alternatives to Prosecco

Founder & CEO

Look, don’t panic.

The world of social media (and a fair portion of the British press) may be losing their collective minds this morning at the prospect of a Prosecco shortfall in the coming summer, but let’s face it – Prosecco isn’t the only sparkling white wine in the world.

If you’re willing to look slightly further afield than the hills of Northern Italy, you’ll find it’s not actually that difficult to get your hands on some top quality inexpensive sparkling white wine. No matter how long you’ve been swigging Prosecco, once you’ve tried these you’ll probably never go back.

Champagne

Okay, you saw this one coming, right? Bear with us, though – whilst Prosecco may have made a name for itself as the ultimate cheap alternative to champagne, the tendency of British supermarkets to fall into a perpetual game of one-upmanship means that, if you scour around a bit, you can actually find it being sold for some stunningly low prices. Aldi were, until recently, selling Champagne Veuve Monsigny for £10, until Asda matched that with their £9.97 Pierre Darcys – at which point Aldi prompt knocked off 3 pence to match them. By the time we reach late July it’s probably safe to assume that the major supermarket chains will be throwing their bottles of champagne from the rooftops. Which sounds dangerous, frankly, but it’s champagne so you can’t really complain.

Aldi’s Veuve Monsigny: http://bit.ly/1dOqUOS
Asda’s Pierre Darcys: http://bit.ly/1K88z1k

Or, just in case the tenner bottles aren’t enough, you could always embark on one of our many, many Champagne tours.

Crémant d’Alsace

The Crémant d’Alsace AOC may not be the largest designation in Alsace (in fact, it’s one of the smallest), but its sparkling whites are famed for their floral and fruity aromas. Not only that, but the method of production for Crémant d’Alsace is more or less identical to that of champagne – although the final product tends to be a little lighter (and cheaper, unless you’re getting your champagne thrown down to you from an Asda rooftop). Bonvin do a wonderful Crémant d’Alsace wine from Wolfberger for only £11.99.

Bonvin’s Wolfberger: http://bit.ly/1eklnaO

Falling in love with Alsatian wines? We don’t blame you, but you might want to try them at the source.

Blanquette de Limoux

Languedoc-Roussillon is by far the largest wine-producing region in the world. It makes more wine annually than Bordeaux, Australia, South Africa and Chile combined. That’s more than the entire USA produces, too. So, naturally, there are going to be a few decent sparkling white wines in there. Blanquette de Limoux is made around the city of (you guessed it) Limoux, and has the esteem of being the oldest sparkling wine in existence, being in production by the hallowed Benedictine Monks since as far back as (at least) 1531. Tesco do a decent bottle for £10.99.

Tesco’s Blanquette de Limoux: http://bit.ly/1FCmk8G

And yes, of course we do experiences in Languedoc.

Quinta da Murta

Quinta da Murta’s wines are the ‘Wines of Shakespeare’. Partially because produce from the Bucelas region was well-loved by the English royal court in the 16th century, and partially because the Bard actually name-dropped it in Henry VI Part II, back in 1594. They do a range of whites, reds and rosés, but Prosecco fans will want to be looking for the Espumante Brut. Should go well with a dessert, this one.

Quinta da Murta’s Espumante Brut Nature 2011: http://bit.ly/1FHhHff

Spotted a pattern yet? For a better taste of what Quinta da Murta (and the rest of Portugal) has to offer, try out our Lisbon Wine Experience.

Ready to start planning?

SmoothRed offers a wonderful array of year-round experiences for all kinds of travellers. Let’s design your tailored memories together.

Bouvet Ladubay Saumur

Bouvet Ladubay, near the Loire Valley’s town of Saumur, has been producing sparkling wine (for which Saumur is particularly famous) since 1851. Their Bouvet Brut, made from Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay, has a noticeably elegant aroma and a particularly pleasing mousse. Majestic, who sell it for just under £15, reckon it goes particularly well with fish and chips. So there you go.

Majestic Wines’ Bouvet Ladubay Saumur: http://bit.ly/1IONprP

To be honest, it’d be pretty embarrassing at this point if we didn’t do trips to the Loire Valley.

Freixenet Excelencia Vintage Cava

Freixenet is a producer near Barcelona which specialises in Cava, and is easily one of the most revered in Spain – if not the world. Their Excelencia Brut II is made with Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada, and is as fruity as it is crisp. Perfect for summer, and Waitrose have got it for a genuinely-quite-shockingly-cheap £7.32.

Waitrose’s Freixenet Excelencia Vintage: http://bit.ly/1ISRDNr

SmoothRed’s Excelencia Barcelona Wine Tour: right here.

Luc Belaire

Rosé makes up around 88% of all the wine that Provence produces. The region is, by far, the world’s foremost in the production of rosé, and Luc Belaire is among the most sought-after in the world. Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault grape varieties all brought together to make a beautifully floral pink fizz – it’s more expensive than the other wines on this list, but it’ll be worth it for the taste and experience of something that, let’s face it, is simply in an entirely different league to Prosecco.

Selfridge’s Luc Belaire Sparkling Rosé: http://bit.ly/1ISSg9T

Provence definitely isn’t bad this time of year, either.