It’s no secret that we love Champagne. We’ve talked about the best way to go about opening a bottle of Champagne safely and how to keep the bubbles fizzy for days once you have opened it. We’ve even shared more than a dozen of our favorite Champagne co…
It’s no secret that we love Champagne. We’ve talked about the best way to go about opening a bottle of Champagne safely and how to keep the bubbles fizzy for days once you have opened it. We've even shared more than a dozen of our favorite Champagne cocktail recipes. But the most important question of all is: How the heck do you store Champagne?
Listen, I know Champagne is expensive (even though it doesn’t always have to be), and you may be holding on to a special bottle of Veuve Clicquot or a celebratory vintage for a momentous occasion. When storing Champagne, you want to first and foremost prevent the bottle from breaking haphazardly while also keeping the cork moist and protecting the good stuff on the inside.
The French 77 cocktail is a bubbly mix of elderflower liqueur, lemon and Champagne! This spin on the French 75 is a step above the classic.
Looking for a festive drink? Try the French 77! This champagne cocktail is a spin on the classic French 75 that adds St Germain elderflower liqueur. And dare we say it: it makes this classic cocktail even better. It’s bubbly and effervescent, with the floral undertones and the zing of fresh lemon juice. If you need a signature cocktail to impress your friends, this is the one.
What is a French 77 cocktail?
The French 77 is spin on the classic French 75 cocktail using elderflower liqueur, created by Simon Difford in 2006. Most sources say the original French 75 was invented in 1915 at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, earning it’s name because it was as powerful as a French 75mm field gun. A classic French 75 is made with gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and champagne.
The French 77 simply substitutes St Germain elderflower liqueur for the gin and simple syrup in a French 75. While the St Germain bottle might look historic, it’s a actually new product to cocktails: it was released in 2007. (Since Difford claims to have invented this drink in 2006, he may have used another elderflower liqueur product? We’re not sure.) The ingredients in a French 77 are:
St Germain elderflower liqueur
Lemon juice
Champagne, Prosecco or other sparkling wine
Making the drink is as easy as pouring it all in a champagne flute. Easy as that!
How to make a lemon twist
A classic French 75 is garnished with a lemon twist, and it’s what makes the drink! Wondering how to do it? We have a way to make this classic garnish using no special tools. Here’s how to make a lemon twist:
Cut the lemon width-wise into a circle.
Run a paring knife around the edge to remove the peel, cutting away as much of the pith as possible. Remove the fruit and set aside.
Cut the remaining peel circle so that it becomes a long strip. Twist it, holding it for several seconds until the shape is kept.
Choosing the sparkling wine
The traditional sparkling wine for a French 75 and French 75 is champagne. But we find it’s easier to find a great bottle of Prosecco! Prosecco is a little cheaper with a sweeter, more floral flavor. You can find a great Prosecco for $15 per bottle, but a good bottle of champagne starts at $30 to $40. Either way, make sure it’s “brut” which means dry. Here’s more about the different types of sparkling wine:
Champagne: French sparkling wine (most expensive choice). It tastes bubbly and fruity, with undertones of almond and orange.
Prosecco: Italian sparkling wine. It’s a little sweeter than champagne: fruity and flowery, with notes of apple, pear and lemon.
Cava: Spanish sparkling wine. It has more citrus notes, and is a little more savory and less fruity.
More champagne cocktails
Outside of the French 77, there are lots more classic champagne cocktails to try! Here are a few more favorites for when you want to open a bottle of bubbly:
You don’t need to ever convince me to drink champagne. But if there’s one time when the rest of the world also comes aboard the bubbly boat, it’s the week of New Year’s Eve. One champagne house is trying to change how the world consumes champagne on a …
You don’t need to ever convince me to drink champagne. But if there’s one time when the rest of the world also comes aboard the bubbly boat, it’s the week of New Year’s Eve. One champagne house is trying to change how the world consumes champagne on a regular basis. Champagne Telmont, a house that dates back to 1912, is in the process of fully converting their agricultural processes to be 100 percent certified organic. “It’s a big, big bold commitment,” says Ludovic du Plessis, president of Telmont Champagne. For champagne to be certified organic, the grapes must be harvested without the use of any forms of herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, an extremely strict standard in the wine world. In general, du Plessis says that the champagne industry is largely a sustainable one. But only three percent of the world’s supply of champagne is certified organic.
That is largely due in part because it is not cheap nor easy. The process for becoming certified organic doesn’t happen overnight. It was a decade-long process for Telmont, who received its first certification for certain sections of the house’s vineyard in 2017. Currently, 49 percent of Telmont’s total cultivated areas, which is made up of nearly 200 acres, are certified organic or are currently in conversion. The entire house does not anticipate being able to receive organic certification until 2025.
Let’s face it: even the most well-thought out and well-intentioned New Year’s Eve plans are probably going to have to scale back in some way this year. One day, we promise, you’ll be able to overpay for tickets to a NYE event, sipping watered-own cockt…
Let's face it: even the most well-thought out and well-intentioned New Year's Eve plans are probably going to have to scale back in some way this year. One day, we promise, you'll be able to overpay for tickets to a NYE event, sipping watered-own cocktail after watered-down cocktail to make the most of the open bar before midnight rolls around. We can also promise (with almost 100% certainty) that such a New Year's will make you yearn for the years you spent it cuddled up on the couch, eating frozen Trader Joe's apps, and drinking all the sparkling wine your little heart desired.
For now, though, your pared-down gathering can get a little gussied up. And by a little, we mean with minimal effort and maximum effect. What are we referring to? A champagne tower, of course. Is there anything more over-the-top New Year's than a champagne tower? No, no there is not. And good news all around: it's not very difficult to do.
When I first quit drinking alcohol, the only thing about it that I feared I would miss were champagne toasts. I associate sparkling wine with Christmas, when my mother usually hosts a huge, festive feast. For years, one of my jobs as her co-host has be…
When I first quit drinking alcohol, the only thing about it that I feared I would miss were champagne toasts. I associate sparkling wine with Christmas, when my mother usually hosts a huge, festive feast. For years, one of my jobs as her co-host has been to make sure everyone got a glass of champagne as soon as they walked in the door, which meant I spent at least half an hour watching the animated bokeh effect of the bubbles as I made sure the red and clear Waterford cut crystal champagne flutes she uses only once a year didn’t overflow.
As Christmas rolled around the first year that I didn’t drink, nearly a decade ago now, I replaced champagne with sparkling cranberry cider, but it wasn’t the same. Even though I didn’t miss the effects of alcohol, I missed the taste and the fine, tickling bubbles of a decent sparkling wine. Luckily, non-alcoholic sparkling wine making has come a long way in the past ten years, and bubblies without the buzz have improved tremendously. Recently, I had the delightful task of tasting and reviewing over seventeen offerings that are available now for your holiday parties, New Year’s toasts, or whatever you might be celebrating all year long! Here are my recommendations:
I come to you today to tell you about something magical—a foolproof trick that will teach you how to recork champagne and store it for days. I find this magical for several reasons, the first and foremost being that it has to do with Champagne&md…
I come to you today to tell you about something magical—a foolproof trick that will teach you how to recork champagne and store it for days. I find this magical for several reasons, the first and foremost being that it has to do with Champagne—or really, any sparkling wine at all. And, anything having to do with sparkling wine I find naturally has a certain allure and sophistication. It is immediately something I want to know about because sparkling wine—in any guise, be it a flute, a coupe, a cocktail, a spritz—is one of my very favorite things to drink.
Champagne is second only to water and coffee, which I guess technically makes it third. But it's first in my heart, even if it's third in the pecking order of necessity for functioning. Along with all other sane people, I turn toward a regular rotation of Aperol spritzes and sparkling rosé during the stretches of summer that are the most sun-soaked and Mediterranean.
I was recently shopping for a bottle of wine for my Grandpa’s birthday over Thanksgiving weekend when the shelf displaying a few bottles of Veuve Clicquot caught my eye. I wasn’t drawn to it because of the gleaming orange labels, a color which I believ…
I was recently shopping for a bottle of wine for my Grandpa’s birthday over Thanksgiving weekend when the shelf displaying a few bottles of Veuve Clicquot caught my eye. I wasn’t drawn to it because of the gleaming orange labels, a color which I believe would have been called “macaroni and cheese” in a box of 64 Crayola crayons (sharpener included), nor its status as a go-to bubbly. What I saw and felt was quite literal sticker stock—$59.99. II don’t exactly keep tabs on the price of champagne, but I know that a bottle of Veuve is always, always priced at around $50. By around, I mean maybe it is $48.99 or $51.99, depending on where I’m shopping. But a $10 increase was significant.
This is just one reminder of the fact that we’re experiencing a champagne shortage right now. The shortage is a result of the one-two punch that is global warming and the supply chain crisis, due to the ongoing global pandemic (no big deal). “There was a surplus of champagne just before COVID…and then COVID happened and then there was copious amounts of drinking of all kinds of wine. When the world reopened, the one thing that I noticed moved the fastest was champagne. People were feeling festive, which created high demand,” Paola Embry, certified sommelier and Wine Director of the Wrigley Mansion, told me in an interview.
Most of the time, I want to enjoy Champagne or prosecco unadorned in a Champagne flute. It’s the simplest drink, yet the most elegant. For years, I’ve celebrated every anniversary, birthday, and obviously New Year’s Eve with at least one glass (and som…
Most of the time, I want to enjoy Champagne or prosecco unadorned in a Champagne flute. It’s the simplest drink, yet the most elegant. For years, I’ve celebrated every anniversary, birthday, and obviously New Year’s Eve with at least one glass (and sometimes, an entire bottle) of Champagne. But I have to admit: Champagne cocktails are really great. The first one I was ever introduced to was a French 75. If you’re skeptical of Champagne cocktails, this is a delightful introduction into the category—it’s made with simple syrup, gin, and lemon juice. Serve it in a Champagne glass and garnish with a lemon twist. I’m not the only one who thinks that this is a fabulous cocktail. “It’s light, citrus-forward, and contains all the bubbly. What’s great about this cocktail is how versatile it is. You can make it with pretty much any spirit of your choice: gin, vodka, tequila, cognac, the list goes on,” says Food52’s Resident Bartender.
With every Champagne cocktail here, you can always use a more budget-friendly sparkling wine instead. Here are our best Champagne cocktail recipes, ready to serve at the drop of a (top) hat.
I don’t believe that you need an excuse to open champagne, but when you have a bottle of really good bubbly, you might want to save it for a special occasion. Say, an anniversary, date night, or New Year’s Eve, or a Thursday. But opening a bottle can b…
I don’t believe that you need an excuse to open champagne, but when you have a bottle of really good bubbly, you might want to save it for a special occasion. Say, an anniversary, date night, or New Year’s Eve, or a Thursday. But opening a bottle can be intimidating. There’s no electric corkscrew or fancy wine preservation system to help you out. It’s just you, the cork, the wire cage, and a kitchen towel. Whether you have a pricy vintage champagne or an inexpensive bottle of sparkling wine, the last thing you want is a cork flying across the kitchen and bubbles bursting out of the bottle and onto your kitchen countertops. And cabinets. And the floor. And that new velvet dress that you bought just for tonight.
When learning how to open a bottle of champagne, who else would I turn to than Veuve Clicquot for instructions? My fiancé and I enjoy a bottle of the iconic yellow label champagne for every special occasion in our lives—birthdays, anniversaries, new jobs, new apartments, and holidays. No one does champagne like the French.
We’ve teamed up with G.H. Mumm—makers of outstanding Champagnes produced at Maison Mumm in the Champagne region of France since 1827—to celebrate National Rosé Day with their Grand Cordon Rosé. On the menu: ultra-refreshing Champagne floats to sip all …
We've teamed up with G.H. Mumm—makers of outstanding Champagnes produced at Maison Mumm in the Champagne region of France since 1827—to celebrate National Rosé Day with their Grand Cordon Rosé. On the menu: ultra-refreshing Champagne floats to sip all summer long. Ready to stock up for the season? Take 15% off your order of 6 bottles or more with the code SUMMER15.
Remember summers as a kid? Long days outside, running to see friends, splashing in the pool, feeling like there’s all the time in the world (and at the same time, none at all). As things slowly start to reopen and the heat settles in for the season, I can’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia—almost like it's summer vacation all over again. With that nostalgia comes the flavors of my childhood: the sweet-tart taste of fresh-picked berries, the smell of smoke from a fire, and the feeling of a brain freeze after slurping down a root beer float too quickly.
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