Charlie Holland’s tips for sparklingwine drinking this season

• Make sure you buy traditional method (it will say on the label). It’s more time consuming and expensive to make, but the end product is by far the best.

• When you pour it, you should get a lovely little mousse collar around the top, but, most importantly, there should be thin trails of bubbles coming up from the centre. It should last 10–15 minutes without going flat.

• Some 90% of flavour comes from the nose, so serve in a wine glass or tulipshaped glass to better channel the aroma. Coupe glasses are pretty, but aren’t best for showing off the bubbles or the taste and aroma.

• English sparking wine is perfectly suited to smoked salmon, due to the higher level of acidity cutting through the oily fattiness of the fish—it works the same as a slice of lemon. The more Pinot Noir in a wine, the more it can stand up to other dishes.

• The best party wine is our Classic Cuveée —a mix of three grapes, Chardonnay (length and acidity), Pinot Noir (texture and silky) and Pinot Meunier (a red grape similar to Pinot Noir that helps to bind the other two grapes together).

• Once opened, it will keep longer the more wine is left in the bottle (less air). Don’t use a silver spoon—it doesn’t work. Use a stopper that clips on.

• Keep it at a constant temperature—12˚c– 14˚C degrees in a cellar is perfect, with some humidity so as not to dry the cork out. Eurocave make very good wine fridges.

• Chill your glasses in the fridge, as well as the bottle. To cool a bottle quickly, wrap in wet kitchen towel and put in the freezer— just don’t forget about it!

• Don’t save it for a special occasion, drink it on a Monday, on its own, and make the wine the occasion.