The quiet rise of English sparkling wine from curiosity to staple is, by now, a well-established story in the UK drinks industry. What the latest data from the Wine & Spirit Trade Association makes clear is that the story has entered a new chapter: this is no longer about forward-thinking sommeliers championing a nascent category, but about English sparkling wine having earned its place through consistent performance and becoming a default expectation on quality wine lists across the country.
The WSTA survey, conducted across 480 restaurant wine buyers and sommeliers between January and March 2026, found that 61% of respondents now include at least one English sparkling wine on their current list. Among fine dining operators, the figure rises to 84%. The five-year trajectory is significant: in 2021, the equivalent figure across the same tier of operators was 38%.
What Buyers Are Stocking
Nyetimber and Ridgeview remain the two most-listed producers by volume, benefiting from the scale to supply multiple-site operators and from a brand recognition that makes them approachable to diners encountering English sparkling for the first time. Chapel Down and Gusbourne are the next most commonly listed, with the latter notably gaining ground in fine dining specifically — its vintage single-vineyard expressions are increasingly placed alongside prestige Champagne on by-the-bottle lists.
The most significant trend in the survey data, however, is not at the established producer level but among smaller estate wines. Buyers report a growing appetite for English sparkling from estates with fewer than 20,000 bottles of annual production — growers including Bolney, Westwell, Tillingham and Albury, among others — as sommeliers become more confident in building narrative around English terroir in the way they have long done for Burgundy or the Loire.
"Five years ago I would put an English sparkling on the list and feel like I had to defend it," says one head sommelier at a London restaurant who asked not to be identified. "Now I put it on and guests ask me about it with genuine curiosity. The conversation has completely changed."
The Pricing Question
The persistent challenge for English sparkling wine on restaurant lists has been price positioning. Production costs for high-quality English sparkling — chalk-soil vineyards in the south-east, hand-harvesting, lengthy lees ageing — are structurally higher than for Champagne at comparable quality levels, and that cost lands on the list price in a way that can create resistance when a bottle of equivalent prestige Champagne is available for less.
The WSTA data suggests this pressure is easing, at least at the premium end. Buyers report that guests who specifically seek out English sparkling — a growing proportion, particularly among younger wine-engaged customers — are comfortable with prices in the £65–£95 per bottle range that quality English estates require to be commercially viable on a restaurant list. The challenge is more acute at the entry price point, where English sparkling struggles to compete with entry-level Champagne and prosecco on a cost-per-glass basis.
Easter Weekend as a Bellwether
The Easter weekend, historically one of the highest-volume trading periods for sparkling wine in UK restaurants and hotels, is being watched by English wine producers as an informal benchmark for category progress. Initial anecdotal feedback from operators, shared via sommelier networks this morning, suggests English sparkling sales over the bank holiday were above the previous Easter — consistent with the broader trend but awaiting formal data for confirmation.
The WSTA's full English and Welsh Wine Report for 2026 will be published in June.