Classic Cuvée NV wins Gold, and Brut Rosé NV wins Silver at the 2026 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championship.
Plumpton Estate, the wine business of Plumpton College in Lewes, East Sussex, has won a Gold medal for its Classic Cuvée NV and a Silver medal for its Brut Rosé NV at the 2026 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC).
Judges tasted wines in June 2026, and the competition announced 156 Gold and 237 Silver medals on 10 September 2026. Plumpton Estate's Gold is one of six Gold medals awarded to English sparkling wines this year.
The 2026 results take Plumpton Estate's record at the competition to 19 medals, 11 Gold and 8 Silver, since the CSWWC began in 2014. The estate has won medals in 12 of the competition's 13 editions.
Trophy and Best in Class winners for 2026 will be announced at the CSWWC Awards Dinner on 29 October 2026.
Both wines are available from our online shop: NV Brut Classic and NV Brut Rosé.
Our winemakers
Plumpton Estate's award-winning wines are made by the College's own winemaking team, with students working alongside them in the vineyard and winery.
About the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships
The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) founded by Tom Stevenson and first judged in 2014 is the only international sparkling wine competition judged by sparkling wine specialists, for the new generation of sparkling wine consumers who enjoy sparkling wine on any occasion and recognise its exceptional versatility when partnering food at the table.
Plumpton Estate's Best in Class awards at the CSWWC
- 2023: NV Brut Classic (Best English Brut NV)
- 2018: NV Brut Rosé (Best English Rosé NV)
- 2017: NV The Dean Blush (Best English NV Rosé; Best Value English Sparkling Wine)
- 2016: NV The Dean Brut (Best English NV Blend) and NV The Dean Blush (Best English NV Rosé)
About Plumpton Estate
Plumpton Estate is the wine business of Plumpton College, a land-based further education college in Lewes, East Sussex. The College operates a working farm, dairy, commercial winery and One Garden Brighton at Stanmer Park, across more than 2,500 acres of the South Downs.
Plumpton College is also home to the UK Wine Research Centre, opened in March 2014 by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, now Queen Camilla, as the UK's first dedicated viticulture and oenology research centre.
Plumpton Estate wines are made in the College's commercial winery on its Plumpton campus, using grapes from Rock Lodge Vineyard at Scaynes Hill, near Haywards Heath. First planted in the 1960s, Rock Lodge is the oldest commercial continuously run English vineyard.