The perfect aperitif: Champagne cocktails

Closest in spirit to an aperitif cocktail, a flute of champagne or sparkling wine is rarely outdone. Its tiny bubbles have the cunning to make even the most stern a little heady at just the right time. But copious amounts of cheap domestic giggle-water served at inconsequential moments is ruining champagne's charm and script in society. Never let this fine white wine become the tired expectation at a gathering. Reserve it for the dearest of occasions shared only with the closest of friends.

Like many, you may insist that champagne gives you a headache and an inevitable hangover. Well, simply put, you need to find new friends, educate those you already have, or dig a little deeper into your own pockets. With hundreds of affordable cocktails that look and taste far above their cost, serve champagne or sparkling wines only when you can afford the best or close to it - even if that means serving a bottle once a year. After all, few of us can afford the genuine article, which costs from US$35 to $100 a bottle.

Fortunately, though, champagne cocktails, with their accents and mixers, can carry a bottle of wine in the $18 to $35 category. But if you want your sips to be like "tasting stars," as were the first tastes of Dom Pérignon, the cellarmaster at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers and the roi of champagne during the 17th century, consider spending more.

Cocktails and sparkling wine closely mimic each other in intent and approach, which is why champagne cocktails are my favorite beverage without spirits as the focus or the base. I may never drink Grande Dame tempered with teaspoons of cassis, but I've been known to enjoy a bottle of good California brut with a little peach nectar. It's worth noting here that you should use whatever champagne or sparkling wine you favor neat for your cocktails. If you have yet to experiment with sparkling wines, remember that brut is bone dry, extra sec or extra dry is slightly sweeter, and sec is mildly sweet. Demi sec and doux are very sweet and should be reserved for digestifs, not champagne cocktails.

If you were to wander into a bar and order a champagne cocktail, you'd get the classic - called, of all things, the Champagne Cocktail. Like most classic cocktails, this drink was first made to distract from low-quality ingredients. Although bars no longer have Prohibition as an excuse, many still mix with sub-par wine and spirits. The Champagne Cocktail - made with a sugar cube soaked in Angostura bitters and then dropped in a flute of champagne and garnished with the cocktail's signature twist - is fabulous for near-flat champagne or sparking wine of debatable quality. The sugar brings out more carbonation and hides the taste of a typical bar's André sparkling wine. Of course, that's also why you should be leery of this drink. You may look smart sipping it, but more than one or two of these cocktails made with inexpensive wine and your head will smart later.

For the same reason, steer clear of a Mimosa unless at a quality bar. Delicious and easy to drink, a Mimosa typically contains 4 ounces orange juice and an ounce champagne. If the wine is good enough to reverse these proportions, opt for a more exotic juice, such as guava or cherry.

Another well-known champagne cocktail is the Bellini. Made famous by the barmen of Harry's in Venice, the Bellini is a blend of the nectar from white peaches and Italian spumante. Although the nectar of fresh peaches is best, even Harry's relies on frozen nectar imported from France. Fine food stores usually carry nectar, and even brands like Kern's work well. Of course, you could easily purée fresh peaches after pitting and skinning them and running the juice through a cheese cloth to remove any chunks of fruit that escaped the food processor's blades. If the fruit is especially ripe, don't add sugar. But for fruit with a bitter tang, use a teaspoon or so of simple syrup. Granulated sugar will sink to the bottom of a glass, only mildly sweetening the drink.

As with all cocktails, resist trying to mimic Mother Nature. Occasionally bartenders will attempt a Bellini with orange juice and peach schnapps. Although peachy enough, the drink's character is far from that of Harry's Bellini. It's worth noting, though, that you can substitute the nectar of other fruits in this drink, so suit your fancy - pears, nectarines, and many berries will have similar success when mixed with the bubbly. Other champagne cocktails to try include the Park Avenue, the Pick-Me-Up, the Le Perroquet. You'll be hard-pressed to find a bartender to make this group of drinks, but you can make them easily at home.

Whenever preparing champagne cocktails, treat them as though you were about to drink the wine neat, and prechill both the champagne and the flutes. Most champagne cocktails use the recipe of 1 ounce mixer (or juice) topped with a good sparkling wine that has been resting in an ice bath for at least 20 minutes. Pour slowly and be patient. Champagne and other sparkling wines do not like to be jostled, and you may need to wait between pours for the foam to settle.

Make certain that the mixers and glassware are as cold as possible. If guests ask for ice in their champagne cocktail soon after they've been served, take it as a well-deserved insult - the drink wasn't cold enough. Mix a fresh batch, since adding ice at this point will further destroy the drink's flavor, killing any remaining bubbles. Remember, a champagne cocktail should taste better than if the wine were served neat. If it doesn't, you've wasted a bottle of wine and the trust of good friends.