For New Year’s Eve Imbibing, It’s Best to Choose a Dry Champagne

Champagne is the wine of choice when New Year’s Eve approaches, but too often we overindulge, and it’s easy to do.

That’s because we usually have dinner at a normal time, between 7 and 8 in the evening, and wine accompanies it. Later, as we wait around until the ball drops, in the two or more hours left, a lot of folks sip something, and then have a glass at the top of the hour.

It’s no wonder a lot of people have headaches the next morning. Not only does sparkling wine contain the normal amount of alcohol that wine has (about 12%), but it also has bubbles, which helps accelerate the heady feeling we’d get from normal wine.

Add to that the festive spirit in which the bubbly is often served and some folks get the notion that they’d be a bad sport not to have “one more glass,” and then one more. . . .

Doing New Year’s Eve with sanity, then, calls for a rigorous approach to moderation, a plan of attack that allows you to enjoy the morning after as well as the evening before. And I contend it’s easier to do when you have only great sparkling wine around.

Greatness, of course, implies high price. But I have found that great Champagne gives you fewer problems. It has to do with the way it’s made: dry.

Sweet Champagne, such as that $1.99 special you serve because there are so many people coming, is far easier to slug down than the bone-dry stuff that has delicacy, finesse, and an austere aftertaste that seems to go better with food than alone. Expensive Champagne is not made to be swigged.

So here are a few suggestions about the structure of a dinner or late-night gathering to celebrate the new year, some of which may seem awfully obvious, but which deserves repeating.

--Serve Champagne with food early in the evening. Almost nothing is worse than sparkling wine on an empty stomach. The food should be something that will absorb some of the alcohol, and carbohydrates are very good. So are oils, and one grand match is toasted Italian-style bread with olive oil, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. This is a bit caloric, but it sops up some of the early evening alcohol.

(One person I know takes some activated charcoal capsules before going to a Champagne party on the theory that the charcoal will absorb some of the alcohol and he feels he has fewer problems the next morning.)

--Have bread and cheese, chips and nuts, set out for the guests to nibble on before dinner. And at dinner, make sure there’s plenty of bread and water.

--Use flutes. Those tall, slender Champagne glasses keep the effervescence in the wine longer, allowing people to nurse their drinks longer. (As soon as a glass of Champagne goes flat, the temptation is to swallow what’s in the glass in a gulp and look for more. If the wine retains its bubbles longer, people often sip slower.)

--Offer what Brooks Firestone calls a spacer, the English term referring to a non-alcoholic beverage served in between those with alcohol. Firestone, the winery owner from Santa Barbara, has been using the term spacer in radio commercials for his Firestone Non-Alcoholic beer, an excellent and quite flavorful “extra beverage” no party should be without. Designated drivers will be pleased (as will the weight-conscious; it has a lot fewer calories than regular beer), and so will those who want to sip something after having had enough.

This last suggestion goes too for other non-alcoholic products, including non-alcoholic beers such as Clausthaler, Kalibur and Moussy and non-alcoholic wines from Ariel. The Ariel Blanc de Noirs ($9) is a surprisingly tasty product. It doesn’t remind me of wine as much as I had hoped, but it is dry and serves a useful purpose: it goes with food a lot better than soda pop.

--Serve Champagne cold. Warm or cool Champagne tastes less lively and often is consumed in larger gulps. Served cold, it retains its bubbles longer and will be sipped more slowly.

What kind of bubbly to serve? That depends on the budget. Good French Champagne can cost $50 to $100 a bottle, though wines as lovely as Perrier-Jouet or Veuve-Clicquot, both non-vintage Bruts, are wonderful choices for less than $20.

If the party is going to be large and price a factor, Champagne-style punch can be made with white table wine, sparkling water and fruit juice, with fruit added for garnish. Recipes abound in numerous cookbooks. This is usually a safe way to create a festive atmosphere, and the alcohol in such a drink is lower because the wine is usually diluted by the addition of other liquids.

However, Champagne-style punch is inadequate where wine lovers are present, so a few bottles of something good must be at hand. Often, in such larger gatherings, not much of the expensive stuff is needed. (A couple of years ago I attended a Dec. 31 wedding at which there was much “punch” to consume. But the host had an ample supply of his “house Champagne,” which turned out to be the exceptional Charles Heidsieck from France. He and I were among the few who consumed it.)

After you recover from the shock of seeing the prices for great Champagne, consider California. California sparkling wines don’t duplicate what the French do, but quality in recent years has been spectacular and prices, though in the double-digits, are fair.

Here are a few suggestions from my tasting notes (NV stands for non-vintage; the first price listed is full retail; the second price is what I have often seen it sold for):

NV Domaine Mumm Cuvee Napa Brut Prestige ($15.50; $11): Superb fruit and nuances of toast and spice make this one of the best wines of its type and price I have tasted. It got awards at eight major wine competitions this year. Superb value.

NV Maison Deutz ($17; $13.50): The fourth release from this house and the best to date--fresher and more delicate, but with a complexity that past wines lacked. The problem: it’s hard to tell which wine you’re getting because there is no designation on the label, either vintage or cuvee number. The solution: look for bottles that have at the bottom of the label the dual appellation San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

1982 Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs Late Disgorged ($25, rarely discounted): About as complex a wine as you’ll find on the market, this wine is the Pinot Noir grape handled in a way to extract as much from it, yet retain freshness. This is a genuine classic and worth the price.

NV Domaine Chandon Reserve ($35/magnum; $29): If you’re serving a lot of people and will need big bottles, magnums of this wine will be a treat. It is fairly deep and complex, with toasty notes and a full-bodied finish, but it’s not overbearing. I have had less success with 750-milliliter bottles of the Reserve and recommend only the magnums.

1986 Piper-Sonoma Brut ($14; $10.50): Wine maker Chris Markell’s house style is far more delicate and crisp than many wines in California, and the result is wine that is lovely with lighter foods. This wine also has an intriguing lemony-fruity quality that makes it one of the winery’s best to date. Good value.

1986 Iron Horse Blanc de Noirs ($20; $17.50): A wine much in demand and only occasionally discounted, this is Iron Horse’s annual winner, focusing on the delicate nature of the Pinot Noir grapes in the Western Russian River of Sonoma County. There is ample flavor in a beautifully restrained package.

NV Roederer Estate Brut ($17; $15) and 1986 Scharffenberger Blanc de Blanc ($18; $15): These two Anderson Valley wines show more acidity and lean qualities than some Americans prefer, though I like both of them very much and find them marvelous with food (oysters anyone?). I feel both will be better after another year in the bottle. Excellent wines that may be a bit austere for some.

1986 Chateau St. Jean Brut ($12; $9.50): Great value for those who want a slightly softer wine, yet still virtually dry. The flavors are harmonious, and the richness enough to make the wine fine as an aperitif.

1986 Gloria Ferrer Brut ($16; $13.50): A bit more fruit and spice than in past vintages, and a fairly tart yet very complete and lingering finish make this one of the best to date from this property owned by Freixenet of Spain.

And now for a few sparkling items that are not in the mainstream but which are worth considering for a festive New Year’s party:

NV Ballatore ($5, $3.75): This is a Gallo product and it’s exceptional. It is a fresh-as-a-daisy Muscat-based wine similar to Asti Spumante, except that it’s just as good as any Asti and a lot less expensive. The perfect match for spice cake.

NV Culbertson Cuvee Rouge ($14; $9): This is supposed to be a sparkling red wine, though the color comes out closer to a dark rose. No matter, though, the flavors are fairly intense and the taste is rich and powerful. In recent releases, the sweetness has crept up to where the wine is getting a touch too sweet for most foods, but try it with duck in cherry sauce or with sugar-cured ham. Wow, what a combination.

1987 Chateau de Baun Rhapsody and Romance ($12; $9): Here is the Symphony grape treated with grace and dignity. The Muscat-like flavors are evident, but not overbearing, and the wine is dry enough to match with a lot of spiced foods, including Thai, Sichuan, and even garlicky Greek. (And it goes with baklava too.)

Wine of the Week: 1981 Rutherford Hill Cabernet Sauvignon Library Reserve ($19)--This wine came out in 1985 at $11.50, and the winery has re-released some cases of it at a most reasonable price. Now beginning to show some bottle bouquet, it is a wonderful example of what California can do in a good vintage. This fairly dark wine has concentrated black cherry fruit with hints of pipe tobacco and cedar, and the finish is long and complete. This wine is still aging well, and is a good buy for those who’d like to taste an older wine without paying a fortune and for those who like aging wines further.