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" Throwing a champagne-tasting party doesn&amp;#039;t have to be expensive \u2014 or snooty. Even though sparkling wine, especially champagne, has a reputation for being a &amp;quot;special occasion only&amp;quot; drink, it pairs beautifully with the types of things you&amp;#039;d serve at any party. Think: spicy, fried, cheesy foods, and decadent sweets. And don&amp;#039;t worry about serving top-shelf bottles. Dom P\u00E9rignon and Cristal probably aren&amp;#039;t in most people&amp;#039;s budgets, but there are plenty of sparkling wines from Spain, Italy, and California that cost as much as your Friday night bottle of red and will please even serious wine drinkers. A trip to your local wine store will prove that there are more than enough varieties of sparkling wine to choose from. You can make your selection by varietal (type of grape), by dosage (sweetness), by producer, and by region, to name a few. Selecting wines by varietals gives you a larger range of options and price points, and lets guests sample wine from all over the world, part of the fun of a tasting.  Some easy tips for champagne party-throwing success: 1. Pick up at least four to six different bottles \u2014 each one pours about five average-size glasses or up to 12 small tastings. 2. To make the party self-serve, clear an area in your party space where you can set out each type of wine in an ice bucket along with a corresponding snack throughout the night.  3. To challenge the socially shy, try a blind tasting, where you pour everyone a glass (cover the bottle with a brown paper bag), pass around the corresponding snack, and then have them rate which one they liked the most. Or, for true wine aficionados, see if they can figure out which type of wine they&amp;#039;re drinking.  4. Save dessert to go with your final type of bubbly, and end the evening on a sweet note. 5. When uncorking a bottle of sparkling wine, hold the bottom of the bottle (wrapping the bottle&amp;#039;s neck and cork with a clean dish towel helps) and gently turn it \u2014 not the cork \u2014 keeping your hand over the cork to hold it in place. Taking an eye out with a wayward cork might be a real buzzkill. Angle the bottle away from your guests as you twist it, and slowly ease out the cork. 6. Unless you have champagne glasses on hand, don&amp;#039;t worry about buying new stemware. Keep things casual with disposable glasses, but make sure they have a stem, so guests won&amp;#039;t cup the glass in their hands and warm the wine&amp;#039;s delicate bubbles.  7. Never place a bottle of sparkling wine in the freezer. It could cause a nasty explosion. Instead, add a few handfuls of salt to your ice bucket. Saltwater freezes at a lower temperature, so your bottle should be properly chilled in about 10 minutes. Ready to try your hand at pairing some bubbly with some tasty food? Here are a bunch of suggestions:  Homemade potato chips served plain, or topped with caviar and cr\u00E8me fra\u00EEche (prosecco) Burrata (or fresh mozzarella) on toasted baguette slices topped with tapenade (cava)  Fried shrimp (brut) Poached asparagus with lemon-garlic aioli (blanc de blanc) Dark chocolate truffles (moscato d&amp;#039;Asti or demi-sec)  Can&amp;#039;t find the time to put together a bunch of recipes? Check out some store-bought ideas:  Potato chips served plain, or topped with caviar and cr\u00E8me fra\u00EEche (prosecco) Sushi (blanc de blanc) Thin-crust margarita pizza (prosecco or cava) Fried spring rolls or pot stickers (brut) Lemon bars or dark chocolate brownies (moscato d&amp;#039;Asti or demi-sec)  What&amp;#039;s a good party without a few fun cocktail ideas? Bellini In a pitcher, combine 1 bottle prosecco (or other sparkling wine) and 1 quart bottled peach nectar (or other fruit juice) and stir until blended. Kir Royale Fill a champagne glass with about 6 ounces champagne (or other sparkling wine), add 1/2 ounce cr\u00E8me de cassis, and stir until blended. Garnish with a lemon twist. French 75 Fill half of a 14-ounce glass with crushed ice. Pour in 1 1/2 ounces gin, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon sugar, and stir. Top off with about 6 ounces champagne (or other sparkling wine). Lisa Cericola has written about food, entertaining, and other lifestyle topics for BizBash Media, MSN.com, Southern Living, Cosmopolitan, and First. She currently resides in Brooklyn, where she throws dinner parties for her friends and family in her tiny kitchen and writes about them on her blog, Dinner Party. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/entertaining/a681/champagne-cocktail-party/>