French 76

It depends what you want. Gin's juniper and peel argue with the wine and give the original its spine. Take that out and the drink becomes purely about acid, sugar and bubbles, which is cleaner, sharper and less interesting, in roughly that order.

Near enough. There is already sugar in the glass, so a brut or extra brut keeps things from tipping into sherbet, while prosecco's softer fruit tends to blur the edges. Save the good vintage bottle; a decent non-vintage does everything needed here.

Warm wine hitting a cold, sugary base is what causes it. Chill the bottle properly, tilt the flute and pour down the inside, and add the wine last, never into the shaker. If it still climbs, let the shaken base settle for a moment first.

Start at 8 ml, taste the base before topping, and remember the wine carries its own dosage. Thick-skinned winter lemons will want 10 ml. A bottle labeled brut nature has essentially no sugar of its own, so you'll need every drop of that syrup.

A classic French 76 calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Vodka, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Fresh lemon juice, 8 ml (0.25 oz) Simple syrup, 60 ml (2 oz) Champagne. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard French 76 is roughly 20% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A French 76 is shaken — the rule of thumb is to shake anything with citrus juice. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.