English wines take the top and runner up spots, with Champagne the overall winner
May 21, 2025 — London Wine Fair’s Battle of the Bubbles took place on Monday – the first day of the show – and the results have been announced on Centre Stage. Twenty-six wines were tasted over two sessions on Monday morning by 16 judges, who comprised a cross section of the UK’s leading palates: Masters of Wine; Master Sommeliers; specialist sparkling wine writers
The wines were tasted in pairs under exam conditions over two flights: Thirteen pairs of sparkling wines – one Champagne and one Global Sparkling. The judges scored each wine out of 100, which resulted in a grand total for each wine, and a final overall score for each group; Champagne and Global Sparkling. The retail price of each of the wines was thoroughly researched and a calculated GBP per point was awarded. The lowest GBP per point was deemed best value.
The pairings were selected by Sarah Abbott MW, MD of Swirl Wine Group and Ronan Sayburn MS, CEO of The Court of Master Sommeliers. According to Abbott, “We paired the wines partly through a direct correlation of grape varieties, terroir, ageing and style. In some cases, for very distinctive wines, we paired them because they had a similar personality or structure, even if their elements were quite different.”
The results were presented on Centre Stage by Hannah Tovey, Head of London Wine Fair alongside Abbott and Sayburn.
Top scoring Champagne: 2013 Cuvée Dom Perignon
Top scoring Global Sparkling: 2010 Nyetimber 1086, UK
Top scoring wine: 2010 Nyetimber 1086, UK
Champagnes: 2,782 points
Global Sparkling: 2,418 points
Overall winner: Champagne
Difference: 15%
Best value: NV Cloudy Bay ‘Pelorus’ Rosé, New Zealand
The top 10 wines were as follows:
- 2010 Nyetimber 1086, UK
- 2016 Gusbourne ’51 degrees North’ UK
- 2013 Cuvée Dom Perignon
- 2010 Champagne Ruinart ‘Dom Ruinart’
- 2013 Champagne Taittinger ‘Comtes de Champagne’
- Champagne Krug Grande Cuvée, 172ème Édition
- 2008 Champagne Bollinger ‘R.D.’
- NV Champagne Egly Ouriet ‘V.P Vieillissement Prolonge’
- NV Roederer Estate ‘Quartet’ Anderson Valley, USA
- 2019 Graham Beck ‘Cuvée Clive’ South Africa
As with last year’s Judgement of London, this year’s Battle of the Bubbles was designed to illustrate a section of the fine wine landscape and whether the playing field had levelled in recent years.
Sarah Abbott MW commented: “It was a thrill to select the wines, and to work with these judges. The sparkling wine category is in a very exciting place, thanks to this diversity of style and superb quality. Champagne, of course, is producing wines of exceptional depth and beauty – and all over the world, producers are expressing the beauty of bubbles through their unique varieties, land and methods.”
Ronan Sayburn MS commented: “It was a fascinating experience to taste such a wide range of high-quality sparkling wines side by side. It’s terrific to see English wine do so well. Ultimately, Champagne still reigns supreme with the mature Prestige Cuvées showing their class. No wines embarrassed themselves and the best of Spain, Italy, California and Australia showed their unique characteristics which were appreciated by the judges.”Head of London Wine Fair, Hannah Tovey, commented: “Following last year’s seminal “Judgement of London”, London Wine Fair has again delivered a landmark Icon Tasting; not only showcasing the best sparkling wines from around the world but also illustrating – as with last year’s tasting – how closely aligned the best bottles are from the best territories around the world.”
THE WINES
The full list of wines shown within the pairs and in the order each pairing was tasted is as follows:
FLIGHT ONE
Global Sparkling: 2011 Gramona ‘Enoteca’ Cava, Penedes, Spain
Champagne: NV Champagne Eric Rodez ‘Cuvée de Crayères’
Champagne: 2008 Champagne Bollinger ‘R.D.’
Global Sparkling: 2009 House of Arras ‘EJ Carr Late Disgorged’ Tasmania, Australia
Champagne: NV Champagne Laurent- Perrier Rosé
Global Sparkling: NV Cloudy Bay ‘Pelorus’ Rosé, New Zealand
Global Sparkling: 2016 Ca’ del Bosco ‘Cuvée Anna Maria Clemente’ Franciacorta, Italy
Champagne: 2013 Champagne Taittinger ‘Comtes de Champagne’
Champagne: 2012 Champagne Billecart-Salmon ‘Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon’ Rosé
Global Sparkling: NV Cruse Wine Co LC18 Tradition Rosé, Sonoma Coast, USA
Global Sparkling: 2019 Graham Beck ‘Cuvée Clive’, South Africa
Champagne: 2010 Champagne Ruinart ‘Dom Ruinart’
FLIGHT TWO
Global Sparkling: NV Roederer Estate ‘Quartet’ Anderson Valley, USA
Champagne: Champagne Krug Grande Cuvée, 172ème Édition
Champagne: 2018 Pascal Agrapart ‘Minéral’ Blanc de Blancs
Global Sparkling: 2017 Quartz Reef, BdB, Central Otago, New Zealand
Champagne: 2018 Champagne Pol Roger ‘Cuvée Winston Churchill’
Global Sparkling: 2016 Gusbourne ’51 degrees North’, UK
Global Sparkling: 2015 Nino Franco ‘Rustico’ Prosecco Valdobbiadene, Veneto
Champagne: 2016 Champagne Egly Ouriet ‘V.P Vieillissement Prolonge’
Global Sparkling: NV Weingut Karthäuserhofberg Sekt, Ruwer, Germany
Champagne: NV Champagne Drappier ‘Quattuor’
Global Sparkling: 2011 Recaredo ‘Turó d’en Mota’ Cava , Penedes, Spain
Champagne: 2015 Champagne Roederer ‘Phillipe Starck’ Brut Nature
Champagne: 2013 Cuvée Dom Perignon
Global Sparkling: 2010 Nyetimber 1086, UK
THE JUDGES
The 16 judges who participated were:
- Elliot Awin, Partner at ABS Wine Agencies
- Susie Barrie MW, Writer & Broadcaster, Wine Blast podcast
- Sam Caporn MW, Director – The Mistress of Wine
- Oz Clarke, broadcaster, author
- Giles Fallowfield, Champagne and sparkling wine specialist
- Tina Gellie, Content Director of Decanter
- Charlotte Gordon, Wine Consultant
- Tom Hewson, Champagne Correspondent, Decanter
- Henry Jeffreys, author of Vines in a Cold Climate
- Alice Lascelles, Journalist at Financial Times
- Matthieu Longuere MS, Wine Development Manager, Cordon Bleu
- Jane Rakison, Editor and broadcaster
- Peter Richards MW, Writer & Broadcaster, Wine Blast podcast
- Anthony Rose, freelance press
- Joanna Simon, Wine writer, The World of Fine Wine
- Siobhan Turner MW, Wine Consultant
JUDGE’S COMMENTS
Joanna Simon: “It was a brilliant experience – so interesting, such fun and so impeccably organised.”
Sam Caporn MW: “SO much fun. I loved it! I’m fascinated to see how all the wines did overall.”
Susie Barrie MW: “The tasting was beautifully organised and a pleasure to judge. We can’t wait to see the results now!”
Peter Richards MW: “It was a real honour to attend such a fabulous tasting. Please thank Ronan and Sarah for their time and dedication in putting such an amazing line-up together and keeping us in order today. And thanks to you for inviting us along, and for making the magic happen! Susie and I CANNOT WAIT to see the results. We’ve already started disagreeing about who got it the scores more ‘right’..!!”
Charlotte Gordon: “a HUGE thank you again for having me today. It was such a fun tasting, and a pleasure to be under the wings of Sarah and Ronan. Fabulous ‘competition’!”
THE SCORING SYSTEM
The Borda Count scoring system was used. This is a nondictatorial positional voting method which ranks the wines in order and uses a preferential voting scheme to aggregate the rankings. The result has less bias than plurality voting which can give greater weight to judges who put plenty of scatter into their scores.
