Chomp and Champ
If you insist, drink it all the way through your special millennium dinner - starting with a young, light style, then working back in years and up in body weight. I did a fascinating tasting earlier this year at Charles Heidsieck, trying the Mis en Cave champagnes laid down in 1993, 1994 and 1995 with different foods. Salmon sushi was best with the light 1995, caviar suited the firmer 1994 and sweet Parma ham was a wow with the richer 1993. Alas, although launched on the market together, all three are virtually sold out, with only the fruity young 1996 (about £27) to take their place. But the experiment was instructive.
Here are a few other thoughts. For non-vintage: shellfish, fish and chips, Chinese food, egg dishes of all kinds (remember for that new year brunch). For vintage: smoked salmon, foie gras, chicken, veal, cheeses such as Chaource or Brie. For rose: pink lamb, duck. For demi-sec or doux: desserts - especially with fruit and pastry.
Best Deal in Town
SELECTIONS expand and shrink. Special offers come and go. But for years Oddbins has stocked a dizzying range of champagnes and sparklers, offering unbeatable terms. Currently, their seven for the price of six deal applies to almost all of the 50 or so champagnes on their Irish list, from the cheapest to the grandest, and to more than 30 sparkling wines. Don't expect stocks to last . . .
THE GLASSES
Flutes, everybody knows, are the thing, rather than ye olde saucer-shaped coupes, said to have been modelled on the breasts of early champagne guzzler Marie-Antoinette. With less surface area, fizz in tall, narrow glasses stays fizzier longer, and you can admire the bubbles as they rise. But choose flutes of plain glass - as delicate as you dare: cut crystal is far too chunky to be sexy. Wine lovers prefer tulip shapes to lily shapes; glasses that come in a little at the top trap the aromas and make it easier to swirl the stuff around without it flying all over the place.
Etiquette: always hold your glass by the stem or base - not the bowl. It's just not done, my dear - because your sweaty hand will warm the bubbly.