In the Land of Cocktails

Champagne Wishes and Holiday Dreams

Posted by on January 2nd, 2011

The hol­i­days have now washed over us and that can only mean one thing: the cham­pagne flowed.  Whether we toasted with fam­ily, rang in the New Year with friends, or stole away for an inti­mate party for two, good bub­bly always brings a unique touch of class and sexy fun to any gath­er­ing.

I first fell under champagne’s spell before I was old enough to drink it. Every year, my par­ents would throw a New Years party and as a kid, I would help bring out the del­i­cate flutes and fancy bot­tles.  As mid­night approached, I would wait for that first bot­tle to be opened.  Then, brac­ing myself with the kind of excited dread usu­ally reserved for roller coast­ers and just-lit fire­crack­ers, I’d wait for that dis­tinc­tive, loud “POP!” of the cork, which would then go zoom­ing across the room or hit the ceiling.

My dad, the con­sum­mate show­man, liked to open the cham­pagne the way they do in the movies: Two thumbs on the cork, push­ing out­ward until the cork became a lethal pro­jec­tile.  Don’t try that at home, kids.  To open a bot­tle of cham­pagne safely, cover the cork with a towel and gen­tly twist the bot­tle, not the cork.  “It isn’t a party until some­one loses an eye,” is no way to ring in the New Year.

Here in Los Ange­les, where you can’t swing a cat with­out hit­ting a red car­pet event, I’m not alone order­ing cham­pagne or a cham­pagne cock­tail on any given Wednes­day.  If you hap­pen to live where beer is king, don’t let that stop you from indulging your inner fab­u­lous­ness.  Cham­pagne and a game of darts go bet­ter together than you might think.

Only feel­ing half-fabulous?  Try a Black Vel­vet: A flute filled halfway with Guin­ness, gen­tly topped off with cham­pagne.  The more buoy­ant cham­pagne will float delight­fully on the denser stout beneath.  Try pour­ing the cham­pagne slowly over the back of a spoon to insure max­i­mum effect.

For some­thing more com­plex, try Lu’s Cham­pagne Cock­tail, a sophis­ti­cated drink con­sist­ing of cham­pagne, Angos­tura bit­ters and a sugar cube that’s ridicu­lously easy to make using a shal­low, wide-mouth glass instead of a flute.  And who doesn’t love any­thing involv­ing a sugar cube?

If you’re throw­ing a hol­i­day bash, there are sev­eral excel­lent, yet inex­pen­sive sparkling wines – “Cham­pagne” offi­cially refers to bot­tles exclu­sively from the Cham­pagne region of France, although most peo­ple use the term loosely – that won’t force you to choose between a proper cel­e­bra­tion and a car pay­ment.
Domaine Carneros Bruts by Tait­tinger are not only crisp, dry and cer­ti­fied organic, 2003, 2004 and 2005 are all under $20.  Piper Sonoma Select Cuvee Brut is a steal at around $15, espe­cially com­pared to its older French rel­a­tives, Piper Hei­d­siech and Charles Heidsiech.

Mumm Napa Brut Pres­tige, Chan­don Blanc de Noir (Napa) and Glo­ria Fer­rer Brut (Sonoma) are also highly respected and deli­cious selec­tions for around $18.
At those prices, you can afford to cre­ate a fan­tas­tic punch.  Don’t for­get to set aside a few bot­tles for midnight.

Cham­pagne Punch
2 Bot­tles Cham­pagne
2 Cans cran­berry juice con­cen­trate, thawed
2 Lemons, sliced
2 Litres 7-Up
26 oz. Gin
1 can/jar Maraschino Cher­ries
13 oz. Straw­berry Schnapps

Mix the liquors in a large punch bowl.  Stir in the 7-Up and cran­berry juice con­cen­trate.  Float the cher­ries and lemon slices on top.  Serve in punch cups.

Dara Nai is a free­lance writer based in Los Ange­les.