Serve champagne in room-temperature flutes to enhance bubble formation. RELATED LINKS Top 10 Holiday Wines Serving Champagne Sweet Potato and Scallion Latkes with Smoked Trout Lamb Shanks with Mushroom Bolognese

By Keith Famie

Sparkling wine is a delightful enigma. As the old saying goes, you can have too much, but you can never have enough — especially at this festive time of year.

Long touted as the drink of the rich and famous, bubbly in its original form hails from — where else? — Champagne, a tiny pocket of limestone and clay perched ninety miles northeast of Paris. While only wines from the namesake French region can properly be called "Champagne," the time-tested méthode champenoise is used by producers on both sides of the ocean — as are the same kinds of grapes, mainly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. So many quality sparkling wines are produced worldwide these days that self-professed ‘Champagne snobs’ often have more cash than sense.

As far as food and wine pairings go, sparkling wine remains, quite literally, the jack-of-all-courses. In its various styles (dry to sweet, clear to pink, bubbly to less-so) and, particularly, depending on the variety of grapes used (Chardonnay by itself or complex, regional grape blends), sparkling wine can be the elegant escort, not just to the entrée, but to every course of your holiday feast.

Well-made sparkling wine manifests amazing versatility as a food accompaniment in part because of a precise balance of sugar and acid, but also because the bubbles serve as a natural purifier, spritzing the palate clean between bites. This allows a variety of different flavors to interact in a course, and encourages each to develop an individual profile alongside the wine.

As an example, fish and cheese are dissimilar on every sensory level, but champagne is a classic accompaniment to both. Likewise, foie gras and almond cookies (hardly peas-in-a-pod, are they?) each mate wonderfully with fresh sparkling wine. Equally, and somewhat remarkably, sparkling wine can quench the fires of the spiciest cuisine and, during the same meal, enliven a chocolate-charged dessert.

As sparkling wine deepens in complexity and weight, its working relationship with food changes. At this time of year, I love to serve white-grape Blanc de Blanc with smoked salmon, fresh shellfish or oysters as an indulgent appetizer. With Blanc de Noirs, made predominately from red varietals, my choices expand to veal and pork roast or standing rib roast of beef, especially when sauced in a wine reduction (ideally, made with the wine you’re serving). Sparkling rosé is one of my favorites, particularly as a match for traditional holiday meats; it sets off the smokiness and richness of ham, and is a perfect accompaniment to roast turkey.

For dessert, I try to balance the sweetness of the course as closely as possible to that of the wine. For instance, you might pair a fruit- or nut-laced torte, or even a traditional English trifle with a sec or demi-sec. Experiment a little — and prolong the celebratory mood by serving a different cuvée with each course to add sparkle to all your holiday celebrations.

Globe-trotting chef Keith Famie currently stars in his own Food Network series, "Keith Famie’s Adventures," and is involved in numerous food and wine writing and TV projects. Visit www.famie.com.