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Award-winning English wine

English sparkling wine now wins the biggest prizes in wine, sometimes ahead of Champagne. These are the results that matter from 2024 to 2026, the award-winning bottles you can buy, and how to tell a trophy from a sticker.

Written and checked by English Wine Tours, an independent guide. How we choose, check and earn.

Bottles to buy The results Reading a sticker

The short version

  • The biggest win: Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs 2016 in magnum was named Champion Sparkling Wine at the International Wine Challenge in 2025, the first time in the trophy’s 34 years that it went to a wine from outside Champagne.
  • Decanter: English sparkling wine has won a Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards three years running: Chapel Down Rosé (2024), Sugrue South Downs The Trouble With Dreams 2009 in magnum (2025) and Balfour Blanc de Blancs 2018 in magnum (2026).
  • Gold rate: at the International Wine Challenge 2026, 16.48% of English entries won gold, the highest rate of any major wine country.
  • Bottles you can buy: Chapel Down Sparkling Rosé, Hambledon Classic Cuvée and Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs have all won top awards in the last three years. See them below.
  • Read the sticker: a trophy or Best in Show is rare; a bronze is not. At the WineGB Awards 2026, 339 of the 372 wines entered won a medal.

Results checked against each competition’s own results and the trade press on 3 October 2026.

The competitions that matter

All of these are judged blind: the judges see a numbered glass, not the label.

  • Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA): the largest wine competition, with almost 17,000 wines in 2026. Above gold come Platinum and then 50 Best in Show wines, about 0.3% of entries.
  • International Wine Challenge (IWC): medal winners are re-tasted before results are confirmed. Trophies go to the best wine in each category; the Champion awards are the overall winners.
  • WineGB Awards: the national competition, open only to wines from UK-grown grapes, with Supreme Champion as its top prize.
  • Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC): sparkling wine only, judged by a panel of three including Tom Stevenson. It gives only gold and silver, plus a title for the best wine from each country.

England’s top results, 2024 to 2026

The trophies and top awards, by year. Where a wine won in magnum, we say so.

2026

  • Decanter: Best in Show (97 points) for Balfour Blanc de Blancs 2018 in magnum. Golds included Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016, Wiston Blanc de Blancs 2018 and Hambledon Classic Cuvée in magnum.
  • IWC: the English Sparkling Trophy for Wiston Vintage Cuvée 2009 in magnum. Chapel Down Rosé and Bolney Cuvée Rosé 2016 also won trophies. England took 25 golds, 21 for sparkling wine.
  • WineGB Awards: Supreme Champion for Langham Corallian Classic Cuvée (99 points). Trophies also went to Hattingley Valley Kings Cuvée 2017, Chapel Down Grand Reserve 2019, Exton Park Blanc de Blancs 2013, Balfour Liberty’s Bacchus 2025 and Simpsons’ Rabbit Hole Pinot Noir.

2025

  • IWC: Champion Sparkling Wine, plus the English Sparkling and English Blanc de Blancs trophies, for Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2016 in magnum.
  • Decanter: Best in Show (97 points) for Sugrue South Downs The Trouble With Dreams 2009 in magnum.
  • WineGB Awards: Supreme Champion for Langham Perpetual, the competition’s first 99-point wine. Black Chalk Wild Rose 2021 was Best Sparkling Rosé.
  • CSWWC: Gusbourne won the Chairman’s Trophy.

2024

  • Decanter: Best in Show for Chapel Down Rosé, the first English sparkling rosé to win it.
  • WineGB Awards: Supreme Champion for Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016. Simpsons’ Railway Hill Rosé 2023 won Best Still Rosé.
  • IWC: the English Sparkling Trophy for Wiston Library Collection Blanc de Blancs 2010, and the English Red Trophy for Gusbourne Pinot Noir 2022.
  • CSWWC: Best English Sparkling Wine for Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2019.

Does English sparkling wine beat Champagne?

Sometimes. At the IWC in 2025, Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs beat every Champagne entered to become Champion Sparkling Wine. A year earlier the same trophy went to a Champagne, Rare Millésime 2008. At Decanter in 2024, two of the 50 Best in Show awards went to Champagnes and one went to Chapel Down Rosé.

In October 2025 Chapel Down ran a blind tasting in New York in which 67% of tasters preferred its wine to a best-selling Champagne. That was the producer’s own event, so we give it less weight. More on how the two compare in English sparkling wine vs Champagne.

Award-winning bottles you can buy

From our English wine list, where the award was for that wine. Non-vintage wines are re-blended for each release and vintages change, so the bottle on sale may not be the one the judges tasted.

  • Chapel Down Sparkling Rosé: Best in Show at Decanter in 2024, and the IWC’s English non-vintage sparkling rosé trophy in 2026.
  • Hambledon Classic Cuvée: gold, 95 points, at Decanter 2026. The award was for the magnum. See our guide to Hambledon.
  • Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs: the 2019 vintage was named Best English Sparkling Wine at the CSWWC in 2024. Check the vintage before you buy.
  • Domaine Evremond Classic Cuvée: gold at the CSWWC 2026 for the Classic Cuvée Edition II, from Taittinger’s estate in Kent.
  • Simpsons’ Railway Hill Rosé: the 2023 vintage won Best Still Rosé at the WineGB Awards 2024.
  • Simpsons’ Rabbit Hole Pinot Noir: Best Still Pinot Noir at the WineGB Awards 2026.

Hambledon Classic Cuvée

Hampshire · £39.50 at The Great Wine Co.

From the estate often called England’s oldest commercial vineyard, first planted in 1952 in the chalk of the South Downs.

Visit Our guide to Hambledon

Buy, £39.50

Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs

Appledore, Kent · £65 at The Great Wine Co.

Gusbourne makes only vintage wines, from vines first planted in 2004 on the edge of Romney Marsh.

Visit Our guide to Gusbourne

Buy, £65

From award-winning estates

These bottles did not win the awards themselves, but their estates’ top wines did.

More bottles, with prices, in our guides to English sparkling wine, white, rosé and red.

How to read an award sticker

  • Trophy, Best in Show or Champion beats gold. A gold means the wine reached a score; a trophy means it was the best in its category.
  • Bronze and silver are common. At the WineGB Awards 2026, 339 of 372 entries won a medal. A bronze tells you the wine is sound, not special.
  • Check the competition. A win at Decanter, the IWC or the IWSC means beating wines from around the world. The WineGB Awards compare English and Welsh wines with each other.
  • Check the year, vintage and bottle size. Several recent wins were for magnums, which age differently from standard bottles.

We checked these results on 3 October 2026 against the competitions’ own results pages and the trade press. The 2026 CSWWC trophies had not yet been announced.

Questions people ask

Has English sparkling wine beaten Champagne?

Yes. At the International Wine Challenge 2025, Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2016 in magnum was named Champion Sparkling Wine, ahead of every Champagne entered.

Which English wines won Best in Show at Decanter?

Chapel Down Rosé in 2024, Sugrue South Downs The Trouble With Dreams 2009 in magnum in 2025, and Balfour Blanc de Blancs 2018 in magnum in 2026, which scored 97 points.

Who won the WineGB Awards 2026?

Langham Wine Estate in Dorset was Supreme Champion for the second year running, with its Corallian Classic Cuvée scoring 99 points.

Is a gold medal on English wine worth anything?

A gold from Decanter, the IWC or the IWSC is a good sign, as the wine was judged blind against the world. A trophy is better still. Check that the vintage on the sticker matches the bottle.