Two top sparkling wine producers are scaling greater heights
To say Marlborough's best sparkling wines are doing well is to make a massive under statement, especially after at least three top wines have won top awards at wine competitions this year, including at the world's biggest wine show - the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards.
Two of the award winning wines come from No. 1 Family Estate, which solely devotes its winemaking to sparkling wine and has done from its inception over 40 years ago when Daniel and Adele Le Brun began making wine in Marlborough.
Award winners
No. 1 Cuvée Magnum - This wine spent six and a half years on lees and has zero dosage, so it's bone dry with richness of flavour that brings weight and depth to the wine. It was named World Champion Brut NV and National Champion – Best New Zealand Sparkling Wine - at the 2026 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC).
No.1 Rosé
This is a superb example of why New Zealand's finest sparkling wines deserve a place at the table far beyond the festive season and it was awarded 95 points at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards.
Dry, pale pink and compelling in taste, this sparkling wine shines a high quality spotlight on Marlborough in a complex bubbly made from 96% Pinot Noir and 4% Chardonnay. Like all of No. 1 Family Estate's best bubblies, this wine spends longer on lees ('tirage') in the bottle, post second fermentation. than most non vintage champagne. Not only that, it's incredibly champagne-like in taste, with delicate aromas of raspberry, wild strawberry and redcurrant, subtle notes of brioche, pastry and toasted nuts, a dry style (just 4g/L residual sugar) and a long finish.
Hunter’s MiruMiru RRP $34.90
MiruMiru takes its name from te reo Māori for 'bubbles' and has been part of the Hunter’s Wine's story since 1997, winning the Trophy for Champion Sparkling Wine at the National Wine Awards of Aotearoa New Zealand this year. Chardonnay-led flavours bring roundness, supported by crisp depths of freshness and bright acidity. It is incredibly good value for money and consistently hits high flavoursome notes in the glass. hunters wines.co.nz
What do awards represent?
All of these awards represent significant recognition for the Le Brun family, whose vision to establish Marlborough as a world-class region for traditional-method sparkling wine began more than four decades ago.
Before moving his young family from Champagne to Blenheim in 1980, Le Brun had carefully researched the South Island’s soil profiles and climate records, convinced that Marlborough offered outstanding conditions to make sparkling wine in the same mould (but "perhaps from a better climate", he once told me) as Champagne.
Like champagne, every bottle goes through two fermentations, is matured on yeast lees for extended periods of time, only in the case of both award winning wines above, that time is 30 months for the rosé and six+ years for the No. 1 Cuvée Brut; which is exactly double (and quadruple) that required of non vintage (NV) champagne, which legally has to spend 15 months on lees in bottle and another three following disgorgement.
And when sent out to market, most NV champagnes usually command a price of roughly double what these sparkling wines are priced at.
Viewed through that lens, a top-quality New Zealand sparkling wine priced around $50 typically represents remarkable value. Delivering the same painstaking production techniques used in Champagne, but costing a fraction of what consumers might expect to pay for a comparable imported bottle.
Wines of the Week
No.1 Rosé Méthode Traditionnelle, Marlborough - RRP $49
No.1 Rosé is one of New Zealand's benchmark sparkling wines and a compelling argument for spending a little more on quality fizz. Made from 96% Pinot Noir and 4% Chardonnay, it undergoes a bottle-fermented second fermentation followed by more than 30 months ageing on lees, creating a level of complexity rarely found at this price. Delicate aromas of raspberry, wild strawberry and redcurrant lead into subtle notes of brioche, pastry and toasted nuts. The palate is wonderfully dry, with just 4g/L residual sugar, while an impressively fine mousse carries flavours of fresh summer berries through to a long, elegant finish. What stands out most is its balance of freshness and depth. It is equally rewarding on opening and, remarkably, reveals even greater savoury complexity a day later. Awarded 95 points at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards, it is a superb example of why New Zealand's finest sparkling wines deserve a place at the table far beyond the festive season. 19/20
