Champagne & Champagne Recipes

In the mid 1800s, Champagne Cocktails became the popular drink at dinner parties in the more affluent parts of society. The cocktails have stood the test of time, and are still popular, especially on special occasions and holidays. Here are some basic of making Champagne Cocktails.

Always keep your sparking wines well chilled and even though you are mixing, the cocktail will only taste as good as the sparkling wine you use. Use mid-range sparkling wines for the best results, and drink the top range sparkling wines straight. Remember that most sparkling wines are on the sweet side, so either use dry sparkling wines, or use your sweet ingredients sparingly. Chill the glasses you will be serving your cocktails in and pour the drinks slowly and a little at a time to prevent foaming over.

Since Julian is famous for our apples, here is an
Apple Champagne Punch Recipe:

1/3 cup lemon juice
2 quarts fresh apple juice
1 cup maraschino cherries
4 cups pineapple chunk
Apple wedges
2 (750 ml) bottles champagne
ice, block

Place ice in a chilled punch bowl. Pour champagne, apple juice and lemon juice into punch bowl. Stir gently. Add fruits. Decorate your glasses with apple wedges.

 For Mother's Day you can serve the typical Mimosa at brunch, or 
 you can change it up a bit with this recipe:

 5 oz sparkling wine (sweet)
 1/2 oz cranberry juice (unsweetened)
 1/4 oz triple sec
 
 If you use sweet sparkling wine, use unsweetened cranberry juice, if you use dry sparkling wine, use sweetened cranberry juice. Just pour right into your chilled glass and decorate with a twist of lime or orange.

 You can experiment with various mixes of sparkling wines and 
 liqueurs, too.

 5 oz of sparkling dry wine per serving
 1/2 oz of chosen liqueur like Midori or Melon Liqueur per serving

 Just serve in chilled glasses and decorate with fruit twists.