Updated 13 December 2024
I am often asked ‘What is my favourite champagne?’, or at our annual The Bubbles Festivals, ‘What is my favourite sparkling wine on our tasting list?’ I try to avoid answering, and sometimes I joke that I answer like a politician – meaning I don’t answer the question! Or liken it to having to name a favourite child. I love so many different champagnes and sparkling wines and what I choose depends on a range of factors – the occasion, the budget, the weather, what food I’m serving, what do I feel like, who am I drinking it with …?
Everyone’s palate is different, so choosing favourites is entirely subjective. One of my favourite things to do is find new bubbly discoveries, learn from winemakers, and share my knowledge on champagne and sparkling wine. It’s why I created The Bubbles Review and why I include a brief introduction at The Bubbles Festivals, and why I created the Bubbly Appreciation Course and our popular The Bubbles Reviewers Club, where we get to share how different sparklings are created, and all of the things that influence a tasting experience so you can truly appreciate what you’re drinking and understand why you like some sparkling wines more than others.
Choosing bubbly for Christmas is subjective too, and your choices will depend on what sort of Christmas you’re planning? A full sit-down lunch or dinner with a hot meal? Maybe it’s a BBQ, or cold platters of seafood, charcuterie, and salads.
A lot of people tell me they love sparkling reds, especially for Christmas. You may have seen in our blog ‘Big, bold and Bubbly’, and in my emails and virtual tastings, that I’m not a fan of sparkling reds, but I do appreciate the history of this in Australian sparkling wine, and appreciate that with the right food match it can be a great experience. I’m lucky to get to taste a lot, and we’ve featured some lovely ones this year.
In our bubbly discoveries, we feature some quite different varietals for our The Bubbles Reviewers Club members and our giveaways.
We’ve had so many lovely Aussie sparklings work with us this year, from Tasmania to Queensland, to Margaret River WA, to the Adelaide Hills, to Mudgee, Tumbarumba, Riverina NSW and the Macedon Ranges and Yarra Valley in Victoria.
We’ve featured Italian sparklings, French sparkling and even a sparkling sake!
For champagne lovers we’ve had some wonderful champagnes this year too, some at The Bubbles Festivals as well as giveaways and The Bubbles Reviewers Club partners. I highly recommend all of them to you at this special time of year. Champagne is not just for pre-meal – you can easily serve champagne throughout the entire menu. I totally recommend staying with bubbles all day! I love a Blanc de Blancs with seafood and look for blends of the ‘holy trilogy’ of sparkling grapes – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier– for more versatility, and Blanc de Noirs and Rosés to match with more robust flavours.
A family tradition for me is pancakes and champagne on Christmas morning. We enjoy our family meal in the evening, we often have family stay over on Christmas Night, and a Boxing Day tradition is to ‘back it up’ the following day with a champagne breakfast with platters created from lovely festive leftovers.
Last festive season I did share on our socials that the one thing that I refuse to serve is Mimosas! Fine if you want to use a spritzer style sparkling made in the Charmat (or even carbonation) method, which are designed to be a mixer like a Prosecco, but please never add orange juice to a beautiful champagne! Champagne takes years to make, and as you might imagine, I certainly don’t recommend spoiling it by adding a juice! Orange juice is very sweet, you’re not fooling anyone by trying to pretend you’re not drinking bubbles for breakfast by adding a breakfast juice!
Whatever I’m serving, I love sharing the stories behind the wine and always include an introduction to what I’m pouring for my Christmas Day guests. This year choose something different to surprise and delight your guests.
The most important thing is not to stress, the festive season should be lots of bubbly fun!
A big shout out to our The Bubbles Festival, The Bubbles Reviewers Club, and giveaway partners in 2024! There were some reliable bubbly favourites and some delightful new sparkling discoveries. You can see the links to their websites here:
International
- Champagne Deutz for Australian purchases see The Family Cellar – Sign up for their list to get free shipping!
- Unwined Liquor – Importer of Champagne Philippe Fourrier, Henri Champliau and Atilius Prosecco and Moscato. To order you can see Bordeaux and Beyond or email Jean Paul directly at [email protected]
- The Global Collective – luxury marketplace for the Italian Dogal sparkling, and grower champagnes.
- Italiquore – Italian sparkling specialist (Brisbane).
- Sparkling Sake
- Canti Prosecco for Australian purchases see The Family Cellar
- Bodega Aranleón Cava – for Australian purchases see Direct Wine Cellars
- Domaine De Crêt De Bine – French sparkling rosé – for Australian purchases see Direct Wine Cellars
- Champagne Abelé 1757 for Australian purchases see Direct Wine Cellars
Aussie Sparkling
- Steels Gate
- Sutherland Estate
- George’s Folly
- Red Poppy Estate
- Howard Vineyard
- Sirromet Wines
- The Lane Vineyard
- Saint & Scholar
- Kaesler Wines
- Mordrelle Wines
- Levrier by Jo Irvine
- Sidewood Estate
- Golding Wines
- UMAMU Estate
- Vinifera Wines
- Calabria Family Wines
- Johansen Wines Tumbarumba
Non-Wine Sparkling Partners
Susan Kerian Fashion Illustrator – Original illustrations inspired by the French and Parisian aesthetic and lifestyle.
Champagne Tower Specialist – Sydney – whether it’s a wedding, birthday or corporate event, a Champagne tower is sure to impress your guests and create lasting memories.
Tyson Stelzer – The Champagne Guide Edition VII gift pack
RIEDEL – The Wine Glass Company
You may also like these other blogs:
Champagne for the holiday season
Drinking champagne on a budget
Why that is not a champagne you’re drinking
How to choose the right glassware for your bubbles
Like to keep following us, get first look at events, receive bubbly information and be in our giveaway draws and have a chance to win a bubbly prize? You can join our list, it’s FREE to join here.
Natalie Pickett is the Founder of The Bubbles Review which is for people who like champagne and other bubbles, written by people who have a love of all things sparkling! At The Bubbles Review, we like to debunk some myths, make the art of drinking champagne accessible, explore bubbly regions and champagne bars, and provide events for you to join us and indulge.
