The best sparkling wines we tested
Best sparkling wine: Mumm Napa Prestige Cuvée
Best sparkling wine runner-up: Etude Grace Benoist Ranch Blanc de Noirs
Best budget sparkling wine: Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut Rosé
Best splurge-worthy sparkling wine: McBride Sisters Collection Reserve Blanc de Blancs
Indulging in a tall glass of chilled sparkling wine can be a blissful experience. Refreshing, refined and crisp all at once, a good bubbly is bound to elevate any meal or celebration. That’s why, along with friends and family, a bottle of sparkling wine is always waiting to be uncorked during life’s big moments. At the very least, it can provide a few ounces of cool relief in the muggy summertime heat.
From rosé and cava to champagne and prosecco, the types of sparkling wine on the market are vast. Deciphering and differentiating the varieties can be an intimidating experience. To make matters worse, finding a good bottle at a fair price without help can make your head spin.
Our adventurous team at CNN Underscored is here to make wine shopping less isolating. That’s why we ventured to one of the West Village’s favorite restaurants and bars, the Noortwyck, where we met expert sommelier Cedric Nicaise, who guided us through an in-depth tasting. Along the way, he gifted us many pearls of wisdom about wine, and in return, we found our new favorite picks.
To be clear, we all have different preferences when it comes to wine. Some of us are sparkling wine enthusiasts while others would rather sip on a canned cocktail. That’s why we had a trusty sommelier to chime in with his expertise.
This exceptional, editor-favorite sparkling wine is grown and harvested in California’s renowned Napa Valley. Most of us thought this buttery, bubbly cuvée had the perfect balance of sweetness with a hint of fruitiness and freshly baked pastries. We all agreed on one thing: This elegant bottle was worth the price.
We were lucky enough to sample this vintage sparkling blanc de noirs from 2018 by Etude Wines, which was one of the pricier picks in our testing pool. We enjoyed the fresh citrus aroma from this delightful bubbly, which we all thought was comparable to a great champagne.
If you love rosé and a good price tag, this vibrant pick from Domain Ste. Michelle will be your new favorite sparkling wine. We appreciated the ripe citrus undertones and affordability of this wine, sourced from premium grapes in Washington State’s Columbia Valley.
Although we concluded a good bottle of wine doesn’t have to break the bank, we couldn’t help but love this refreshing, almost creamy chardonnay-esque sparkling wine from the certified women-owned and Black-owned McBride Sisters Wine Company.
The best sparkling wine: Mumm Napa Prestige Cuvée
Although California’s Napa Valley is home to the Mumm Napa vineyard, it has a distinctly French influence. Mumm Napa follows in the footsteps of GH Mumm and its classic French heritage with its traditional wine-making techniques.
We agreed this wine was more delightful than we anticipated. Pale gold and bubbly upon first glance, this wine had a ripe and fruity aroma we all found endearing. According to the Mumm Napa website, this wine has undertones of “red apple, cherry, orange” and, surprisingly, bread. Senior travel and money editor Andrew Kunesh described this wine as having a “bakery-like smell.” Nicaise confirmed our suspicions, explaining that brioche or buttered toast on the nose and palate aren’t uncommon in sparkling wines. Bread flavors “bake” when sparkling wines undergo a second fermentation and yeast consumes sugar.
Associate editor Jillian Tracy found this wine to have the perfect balance of sweet and yeast-like bread textures, saying, “This one lends itself to be sipped and enjoyed.” Senior tech editor Mike Andronico thought this wine had a hint of apple flavors but found it “smooth and easy to drink.” Meanwhile, photo editor Molly Flores described this cuvée as “nutty and oaty,” adding it “opens to sweeter maple on the nose.” Health, fitness and food editor Tobey Grumet Segal felt the tartness of this wine gave it more flavor and that it had mid-level carbonation, describing it as “almost effervescent.”
The best sparkling wine runner-up: Etude Grace Benoist Ranch Blanc de Noirs
Etude Wines was founded on the philosophy that winemaking begins in the vineyard long before the harvest, according to Etude winemaker Jon Priest. Etude is also passionate about sustainable winemaking, and two-thirds of their Grand Benoist Ranch Estate vineyards comprise wildlife corridors.
This wine was a close winner for one of our favorite wines, which we moved down in the ranking due to its higher price point. According to Etude’s website, this bubbly was made via the classically styled “brut méthode traditionelle” from pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. This wine has fresh and floral nuances, specifically magnolia, Meyer lemon and vanilla. The palate also gives the impression of white peach and Golden Delicious apples.
Nicaise was impressed by the wealth of information on this label, which was certified sustainable. We all loved this crisp, fine sparkling wine that we felt was comparable to champagne. Flores ranked this wine as her favorite, thanks to its crisp texture and fine carbonation. Tracy wrote this wine had much more minerality and felt tart, with mellow and balanced flavors. Andronico described this wine as fizzy but champagne-like and pleasant overall. Kunesh thought this wine was unobtrusive and added he was “a big fan of this one,” due to its fruitiness and strong apple finish.
The best budget sparkling wine: Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut Rosé
It’s hard to resist an elegant rosé, even more so when it’s under $15. This brut rosé crafted by Domaine Ste. Michelle was made in Washington’s Columbia Valley, a lesser-known and underappreciated wine region. The winery has finessed traditional French-style sparkling wines for nearly 40 years, now headed by winemaker Guy Barnes.
According to Domaine Ste. Michelle, this refreshing rosé has tasting notes of “ripe strawberries, with hints of apple and citrus” that can be paired well with sweet-and-tangy food combinations.
Although most editors felt that this rosé was floral and on the more acidic side of the sparkling wine spectrum, this citrus-packed option would be great to sip on in the summertime. Senior digital content strategist Hannah Lauson described this wine as “very sweet and floral” and added that she loved the light taste and perfect amount of bubbles. Senior testing editor Rick Stella thought it had “a dry taste” but found it mellow and easy to drink. Testing writer Joe Bloss even compared this wine to lemonade but added that he wasn’t a fan of the prominent carbonation. Kunesh agreed and added that it reminded him of a simple syrup.
The best splurge-worthy sparkling wine: McBride Sisters Collection Reserve Blanc de Blancs
Sisters Robin McBride and Andréa McBride released this limited production of McBride Sisters Collection Reserve wines in 2021, after creating quality canned wines SHE CAN, Black Girl Magic Wines and others. This line embodies their extraordinary origin story, considering they were raised on opposite corners of the globe in the world’s most iconic wine and farming regions of Monterey, California, and Aotearoa, New Zealand. As fate would have it, they reunited and realized their shared love of food and wine to create the McBride Sisters Wine Company with the mission to empower women and Black winemakers in the industry.
According to the McBride Sisters’ website, this sparkling wine packed with “fresh fruit intensity” was made using the méthode traditionelle to make a sparkling chardonnay from a single vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. It was barrel fermented with a secondary fermentation and “tirage aged 20 months in the bottle prior to disgorging.” This neutral barrel fermentation creates a soft and creamy texture, which all our testers noticed. The additional aging also created a yeasty aroma, similar to the Mumm Napa Prestige Cuvée.
One of the many lessons we learned from Nicaise was to be on the lookout for the amount of information on a wine label. Typically, the more information there is, the better. We were impressed with the McBride Sisters’ striking label, which listed the vintage — unlike most sparkling wines we tested.
We all found this tasteful champagne had buttery and creamy impressions, thanks to the fermentation process. Bloss compared the scent wafting from this sparkling wine to “freshly boiled pasta” and added that it tasted like it was worth the splurge. Tracy agreed with the pasta analogy due to the wine’s butteriness and added that the smell made her salivate. She thought it would pair well with a sweeter dish since it “felt more acidic and tart.” Andronico said this wine was “solid” due to its smooth, rich taste and fine carbonation.
How we tested
Although wine tasting may seem like an easy task, many crucial factors are needed to ensure a thorough test. We researched options and landed on 12 sparkling wines at different price points and variations. We brought them to the Noortwyck and chilled them before our tasting (nothing is worse than tepid wine). As advised by our sommelier, we used tall stem glasses to taste a healthy dose of each wine. He also taught us to smell our glass and to really breathe in all the nuances to understand the complexity and composition of each bubbly. As we tasted each wine, we considered the following.
- Price: We evaluated if each wine was worth the price tag.
- Flavor: We smelled and tasted each wine, looking out for standout flavors and initial reactions to the different layers of each sip.
We were also mindful of the unseen elements making each wine unique.
- Bottle-aging process: There’s a reason people say people “age like a fine wine.” Wine evolves with time, typically getting better if stored properly until it reaches its peak. That’s not to say all wines should be aged in a bottle. Over time, chemical reactions can alter the flavor, texture and even color of wine.
- Minerality: Wine experts will use this term to describe the soil variety, which can also suggest the place each wine derives from. It’s challenging to pinpoint these terms so we compared the minerality of each wine to its fruitiness.
- Variation: We made sure to include a variety of sparkling wines at different sweetness levels including cava, rosé and Lambrusco.
- Quality and quantity of bubbles: Naturally with a sparkling wine taste test, we took note of the “fizz factor” of each bottle.
Other sparkling wines we tested
What to know about sparkling wine
What is sparkling wine and how is it different from non-sparkling wine?
“Here’s the most simple and obvious answer: Sparkling wine has bubbles in it, and non-sparkling wine doesn’t,” Nicaise puts bluntly. “Today, in more technical terms, sparkling wine is a decision a winemaker makes,” he adds. “It could possibly be a wine of terroir, whereas still wines (non-sparkling) are wines of terroir.” A wine of terroir is a wine that expresses the unique qualities of the region (the “terroir”) where it was grown. It’s comparable to the way a vegetable can taste like the environment it was grown in.
“There are many types of wines,” says Ana Fabiano, founder of RiojaTrade and Brand Ambassador for the DOCa Rioja. “There’s table wine, fortified wine and sparkling wine. The latter has carbonation from carbon dioxide,” she says, echoing Nicaise’s point. “This happens naturally (traditional method) in the same bottle or by Charmat, also known as the tank method. Champagne and Cava are made by the traditional method,” she adds. “Sparkling wine starts with a still (non-sparkling) wine and then undergoes a secondary fermentation,” clarified dynamic duo Jeff Jenssen and Mike DeSimone, aka @worldwineguys.
What are the different kinds of sparkling wine?
“There are three basic ways of making sparkling wine,” Nicaise says. “First is the method ancestral, also known as the ancient way. In modern times, producing sparkling wine is a decision a winemaker makes, but as is implied by the name, in ancient times, it was sort of an accident.
“Wine that was not fully done fermenting was bottled, and when that wine would start fermenting again, the bubbles would be trapped in the bottle and, therefore, make the wine sparkling. Many know this today as Pet-Nat,” he says. “Second, is what is called the Charmat method, which is often used to decrease costs and make large amounts of sparkling wine. To achieve this, fully fermented wine is placed in large stainless steel tanks that are pressurized and a solution of yeast and sugar is added to the tank. That solution then ferments creating CO2; that CO2 is trapped in the tank and makes the wine sparkling, then the wine is bottled.”
“The third and last method is called the Champagne method,” Nicaise says. “Here, the second fermentation described above takes place in individual bottles instead of in a large tank.”
What are the most popular kinds of sparkling wine?
“I believe there are four main categories of sparkling wine,” Nicaise says. “Prosecco, Cava, Champagne-method sparkling wines (Cremant in France, some higher-end Cavas, some New World sparkling wines) and Champagne.”
Do you have a favorite brand or variety of sparkling wine?
“I like Champagne,” the Noortwyck sommelier and co-founder says. “If I had to pick a favorite non-champagne, I would pick Bruno Dangin from Burgundy as my favorite.”
“I love premium Champagne, especially Dom Perignon P2, Alfred Gratien and Boizel,” Jenssen says. “I live in Spain for part of the year so I am a big fan of Cava. Segura Viudas Heredad Reserva Brut is one of my favorites and the beautiful bottle makes it a great gift to bring to a dinner party.”
Fabiano agrees and adds that she is especially fond of Cavas. “I have worked with and enjoyed many Cavas so they are my favorite,” Fabiano says. “I also love Billecart Champagne.”
“It’s impossible to choose just one,” says Dana Beninati, food and wine educator and host of Dine with Dana. “I can highlight some of my favorites from the countries known for awesome sparkling production: Segura Viudas Cava from Spain, specifically the Brut Rosé and the Icon Brut Vintage. Mionetto Prosecco from Italy, specifically the Prestige Brut and Berlucchi Franciacorta, specifically the Black Arrow Brut25. Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs from the US and Champagne Drappier Carte d’Or Brut from France.”
What popular cocktails feature sparkling wine?
“There are many, including the French 75, aperol spritz, ‘champagne cocktail’ Kir Royal, and then, of course, the Bellini and mimosa,” Nicaise says.
“Nothing says happy hour like a limoncello or amaro spritz, which perfectly pair prosecco with lemon or herbal liqueurs,” Beninati says. “Of course, the internet sensation of a negroni sbagliato went viral for good reason. I also love how a French 75 plays the fruity flavors of sparkling wine against the bite of gin. My absolute favorite cocktail, when ripe summer fruit is in season, is a sparkling sangria, studded Cava with cherries and stone fruits.”
How should you best enjoy sparkling wine?
“Sparkling wine is often identified as a celebratory wine, which is positive and wonderful!” Fabiano says. “However, they can also be enjoyed for solo sipping or with a meal. They do not have to be relegated to a special occasion and are especially refreshing in warm weather with the bubbles’ bright acidity and flavor profile. They can be enjoyed in a flute, tulip-shaped glass or what is currently trending a traditional still wine glass. Chilling in an ice bucket should include both ice and water. A favorite for me this season is the Cava Vilarnau Reserva Rosé.”
The World Wine Guys agree: “With meals or as an aperitif but always with people you love!”