Roussillon: Domaine of the Bee, England: Hart of Gold.

Justin and Amanda Howard-Sneyd in their 80+ year-old La Roque Carignan vineyard.

What has the Roussillon, in deepest Catalan France, got to do with English bubbly, you may be wondering? Well, it's the same couple behind Domaine of the Bee, kickstarted in 2004 with the purchase of some old vine plots near Maury (which is Occitan but never mind), and Hart of Gold, an upmarket English sparkling launched with the 2010 vintage.

Australian sparkling wine: Arras, Jansz, Blue Pyrenees.

Image from houseofarras.com.au.

House of Arras - Tasmania.

Established in 1995, Arras produces some of Australia's finest (and dearest) traditional method sparkling made under the watchful eye of founder winemaker Ed Carr. The story goes that Ed went to cool-climate Tasmania in 1988 to look for suitable sites... Nowadays, blocks of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are selected from six regions 'with varying terroir from inland to coastal, and warm/dry to cool/wet.'