Who wins the bank holiday fizz battle?

UK retailer Waitrose is offering a slew of tempting deals on sparkling wines, just in time for the long bank holiday weekend. Giles Fallowfield rounds up the best, from Rive Prosecco to Crémant de Loire Rosé.

Waitrose has introduced a smattering of new sparkling wines to its range including the first Rive Prosecco style to be stocked by any of the grocers. This wine comes from one of the 43 specific sites located in 15 different hillside communes that represent the pinnacle of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG production.

Sold under the Waitrose No 1 range this excellent, expressive, richly textured 2025 vintage comes from Rive di San Pietro di Feletto, located in the western corner of the DOCG near the town of Valdobbiadene from II Colle, the small family-owned winery based in the village.

Priced at £16 a bottle, you can currently buy it for a bargain £12 under the retailer’s bank holiday weekend offer of ‘25% off’ deal when six bottles or more are purchased. Speaking at the press tasting earlier this week, Waitrose sparkling wine buyer Alexandra Mawson spoke enthusiastically about the wine’s terroir and driving up in a 4 x 4 with the family to see the steep hillside site where the wine is produced. Although production is tiny, it will be available in more than 200 stores, and Mawson is hoping consumers will appreciate the step-up in quality.

Cava and Crémant

Asked whether there any plans to also look at the grocer’s Cava range and perhaps introduce something from one of the high quality Corpinnat group of producers who have broken away from the Cava DO, Mawson says not at the moment.

“We are very happy with the wines made for us by Codorniu. We had a full range review of the sparkling category last year, concentrating specifically on having the right lines in particular stores and we are not planning many changes this year.”

She is, however, delighted to be adding another line to the expanding Crémant range of French sparklers in the shape of Langlois Crémant de Loire Rosé, priced at £20. The pale, elegantly fruity 80% Cabernet Franc, 20% Pinot Noir blend is proving successful, with sales “are still doing very well”.

Champagne

Sales of Champagne “are stable in volume and value” and Mawson is hoping for a really good summer to boost them, noting that the wet, late Easter weekend last year didn’t help sales.

At the retailer’s recent tasting there were eight Champagnes with the new 2020 vintage of Nicolas Feuillatte’s Blanc de Blancs (£38) promising some decent depth and complexity when it goes into store later in the summer, though I’d still be buying up any of the high quality 2019 vintage of the same wine I came across (£28.50 under the 25% off deal).

Ferdinand Bonnet 2014 vintage is a fine, richly expressive example of this underrated vintage. The 50/50 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend hails from Champagne’s southernmost vineyards, and largest single cru of Les Riceys. When purchased under the current Waitrose promotion you can secure bottles for a bargain £30.

Additionally, Waitrose’s 100% Pinot Noir Own Label rosé brut NV style comes from the same quality producer and the Kimmeridgian limestone soils that set this region of Champagne apart and that’s down to £22.50 under the current deal, so worth stocking up on to enjoy in the sunshine we are promised this bank holiday weekend.

 

 

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