RAISE A GLASS

I’M here with my final thoughts on New Year sips in this most complicated of Christmas seasons.

We’re slowly edging towards a New Year and we’ll definitely be glad to see the back of 2020.

And so I’m bringing you some fizz to say farewell to this year.

My first sparkling wine is a champagne: Thiénot Brut, NV (£35.50, champagnesandchateaux.co.uk)

It’s a definite ”oooooo” with fresh green and red apples, a gentle warmth of buttery brioche. It’s very fruity and clean and crisp and elegant. I’m training my fellow social bubbler in wine speak and we had a win with her description of “refreshing acidity” and “the crisp citrus flavours are long lasting”.

This champagne is available in a special edition magnum bottle (pictured below) at £84.95.

I’ll bring you a pink fizz because they mean celebrations in my life. Abbesse de Loire’s Rosé Crémant de Loire 2019 (£14.49, Laithwaites, or £12.99 in a mix 12 deal) is a very elegant looking bottle to pour as you’re counting down to Big Ben.

The wine is salmon pink and crafted from the Loire’s top black

grape variety, cabernet franc. The flavours are memories of summer red berries (hurry up and come back sunshine!) with a zesty pith of lemon and a good acidity.

Now to a couple of English sparkling wines as I’ve been wowed by a few of these in the last few weeks. Rathfinny Classic Cuvée 2016

(£28.63, laywheeler.com) has continued the wowing.

The wine from Sussex is a blend of the three classic champagne grapes, chardonnay, pinot meunier and pinot noir, with the latter having the majority share. It is beautifully lemony zesty, with ripe red apples, a seduction of soft tropical fruit and a biscuity charm.

My last fizz for 2020 is this one: Lyme Bay Brut Reserve Sparkling (£19.99, lymebaywinery.co.uk).

I taste-tested it as I Zoomed on a festive quiz with friends I’ve not seen face-to-face for months.

It felt a worthy time to pop a cork and mark those special friendships which have endured and deepened despite the vacuum of hugs this year has created.

The wine’s golden giddy bubbles rose to the occasion. It has aromas of a clear sunny English day; fresh breezes, green apples, an orchard. It is a fruit delight, and is a blend of grapes including seyval blanc, pinot noir, pinot blanc, chardonnay, solaris and reichensteiner.

Finally…add a finishing touch to your fizz with a dash of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur (£19, 50cl, but down to £17 online at Waitrose until January 3, pictured below).

I’m slow to the party on adding an aroma thrill of elderflower to a glass of champagne or prosecco. Create the St-Germain Spritz by mixing 40ml of the liqueur to 60ml of sparkling wine and 60ml of sparkling water over ice in a glass. It’s a sparkling dream of hedgerows and flowers.

But you know what? I love to clink the liqueur as it flies solo in a glass on its own.

In fact I’m doing that right now.

I’m raising it and toasting you and yours. I wish you all the best of health for 2021.

■ Find Jane online as One Foot in the Grapes.