Champagne Cocktails

A sparkling cocktail is mostly an exercise in restraint. The wine is the longest ingredient and the most fragile one, so the job is to add something small and sharp and then get out of the way: sugar and bitters in a Champagne Cocktail, gin and lemon in a French 75, peach in a Bellini.

Never shake sparkling wine and never stir it much. Build the rest of the drink first, top with the wine last, and give it one gentle lift with a spoon if it needs mixing at all.

Use a dry wine. Brut or extra brut, and Prosecco or Cava rather than Champagne for anything with more than two ingredients, because nothing you add will let you taste the difference.