How to Make the Best Sparkling Cocktails

Champagne, of course, is the gold standard of sparkling wine. It must be made in Champagne, France, using specific grapes and the region’s traditional production method. But even the least expensive bottle of Champagne costs about $40. Great alternatives include prosecco ($8 to $30) and cava ($18 to $30), the second- and third-most-produced sparkling wines, respectively.

Prosecco is made with an Italian grape using a different method that makes it less carbonated. It tends to have more residual sugar and a slightly lower acidity.

Cava, a Spanish sparkler, is produced with grapes indigenous to Spain using the same method used to produce Champagne. It features similar levels of carbonation, acidity, and residual sugar.

Champagne is essential in a Champagne cocktail—and not just to make it true to its name. Made by pouring the wine over a sugar cube drenched in Angostura bitters and garnished with a twist of lemon zest, this cocktail evolves from the first sip to the last—and the flavors of the Champagne are primary until the very end. First, bursting bubbles aromatize lemon oils from the twist to make the initial sip bright and citrusy. Then the Champagne’s flavors and aromas more fully take over, with whispers of the orange-and-spice-scented Angostura. Only in the final sips, when the sugar cube has fully dissolved to create a bitters-infused syrup at the bottom of the glass, does the Angostura supersede the Champagne. For the best experience, this cocktail’s namesake ingredient is a must.

In virtually all other sparkling wine cocktails, it’s fine to substitute a less expensive sparkling wine. When we poured an $8 prosecco into orange juice and Cointreau to make mimosas and compared them to a batch made with $45 Champagne, all tasters could tell the difference, but most found the cheaper bottle entirely acceptable since the juice and liqueur hid the nuances of the wine. Prosecco is the traditional choice for Bellinis, which are sweetened with peach juice and peach schnapps, and we wouldn’t hesitate to use an inexpensive bottle to mix that drink either.

It’s helpful to consult with a well-informed shopkeeper when selecting a sparkling wine, but to make your own educated guess, keep in mind that one of the biggest determining factors in the flavor profile is the grape varietal. Generally speaking, due to the grapes used to make each wine, champagne is only slightly fruity, cava is a little fruitier, and prosecco is fruitier still. To select a quality sparkling wine similar to Champagne, look for the term “traditional method” or “crémant.” Both indicate that the wine was made in the same manner as champagne, so its flavor (and effervescence) will be comparable.

Whether you spring for Champagne or opt for something more economical, sparkling wine is best served at about 40 degrees. Cold suppresses sweetness, so wine will taste sweeter at warmer temperatures. Higher temperatures also make the wine lose its carbonation more quickly. This makes it initially fizzier and more aromatic, but the trade-off is that it becomes flat and loses its aroma faster. That's why it's critical to not only chill the wine, but your mixers and flutes as well. Wine poured into an unchilled flute shot from 38 to 48 degrees. But in a chilled flute, it rose to only 43 degrees. 

Paying attention to small details will bring your bubbly cocktails to the next level.

TILT THE GLASS
Pour the way you would a beer: down the side of a glass that’s tilted to a 45-degree angle. This shortens the distance the wine falls so there is less turbulence and therefore less foaming.

DON'T STIR—LIFT
Mix sparkling cocktails that include liqueurs and juice using a lifting motion with a spoon. Stirring isn’t particularly effective at moving denser liquids up toward the top of the glass. A lifting motion is much more efficient, and the less you agitate the drink, the more carbonation you preserve.

DROP THE TWIST IN THE DRINK
For cocktails garnished with a citrus twist, be sure to drop the twist into the drink before sipping. The essential oils in the zest and bitter compounds in the pith enhance the aroma and flavor of the drink.

• Bartenders use a tool called a channel knife to create these spirals, but you can easily make them with just a vegetable peeler and a knife. Here's how.
 
• To learn more about how different types of citrus garnishes impact the flavor of cocktails, read about the tests we conducted. 

Don’t worry if you can’t finish a bottle of sparkling wine in one go or have leftovers after making our Champagne Cocktail. We found that sealing the bottle with plastic wrap and a rubber band kept sparkling wine surprisingly effervescent for a couple of days. Even better, use a champagne saver. Our favorite, the Cilio Champagne Bottle Sealer, is just $9, and as long as we didn’t repeatedly reopen the bottle, it kept leftover champagne as fresh-tasting and boisterously bubbly as a newly opened bottle for a week.