Collection: Silly Season Sparklings

'Tis the season for bubbles! Champagne, in particular the Grower Champagne movement, is very dear to our hearts, making any moment just that little bit more special. But with so much cause for celebration this Silly Season (responsibly, we remind you dear reader), let us this week take you through our collection of sparkling wines that we think nail the brief for fizzy fun, from Champagne to Franciacorta!

For those who like their grape varietals as traditional as their methode, you don't have to move that far south of Reims to cater to your Champagne taste on a "Burg" budget: Crèmant de Bourgogne is generally based on two of Champagne's favourite grapes from a region that certainly knows a thing or two about both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Like all Crèmants (ie non-Champagne sparkling wines) across France, strict guide lines for quality are enforced, such as harvesting by hand and whole bunch pressing with a maximum of 100L of juice from 150kg of grapes. Most Crèmants are required by appellation laws to spend at least 9 months on lees which, in addition to terroir and style, helps keep the price tag down compared with the longer maturation required for Champagne.

The championing of the Champagne varietals and the traditional method of secondary fermentation in the bottle is echoed again to the east of Burgundy, in the Crèmant du Jura. Chardonnay predominantly and sometimes Pinot Noir are occasionally joined by the other fun Jurassian varietals, Trousseau, Poulsard and Savagnin, and some of our favourites have been matured for more than two, even up to three years on lees for added complexity with which to toast.

For those willing to stray a little off the beaten and battonaged track of Chardonnay, we love the baked apple tart of a sparkling Chenin Blanc, be it a Crèmant de Loire or a Sparkling Vouvray, or even the splash it makes with the local Mauzac grape in a Blanquette de Limoux. Or the crisp green apple notes resulting from the blend of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel•lo in a glass of Cava.

Of course there's no place like home, and we love what our cool climate, new world winemakers are doing to put Australian Sparkling on the map, with their Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs-style wines. But what can be more Aussie than a glass of Sparkling Shiraz? A perfect companion to your Christmas turkey, as well as the Christmas pudding if you can make it last across two courses!

And speaking of breaking tradition, non-méthode traditionelle sparklings will always be the poppers of the party. Our Prosecco selection all prove how charming the Charmat method of tank fermentation can be, spritzing joy in your glass and your wallet.

And finally, for those who like to get back to nature and keep it real old school but with a twist of the "nouvelle vague", the Ancestral Method are all the rage-ing bulles (French for yum, I mean bubbles). Our selection of bone dry wines from Italy's Emilia-Romagna will dispel any notion of bad feelings you might still wrongly harbour toward Lambrusco. And speaking of those wanting to up the frizz-ante, our fizzy fuzzy fridge of wildly fermented, unfined, unfiltered and unconventional Pétillant Naturel (Pét-Nat) is constantly changing as each new release from our favourite producers all fly off our shelves with their flamboyant spectrum of all colours of the rainbow. Taste it.