Diva-worthy bubbles to get the party started

Our expert rounds up the best champagnes and sparkling wines, whatever your budget

Aoife Carrigy's pick of some tasty champagnes and sparkling wines

Aoife Carrigy

Whose backstage rider would you choose to channel to get a party started? Grace Jones with her half-dozen bottles of Cristal or Mariah Carey with her vanilla protein drinks? Katy Perry with Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio or Iggy Pop with his request for a “smooth, full-bodied, Bordeaux-type red wine”. (Ideally, he reportedly specified, “Something we’ve heard of, but still can’t pronounce. Look, there’s f**king loads of good red wines. Ask the man in the wine shop.”)

Next weekend heralds the last hurrah of the Irish summer festival season, as 70,000 welly-clad punters head to this year’s Electric Picnic. I’ll be with them, hosting the Theatre of Food’s Drinks Theatre in MindField, where some of Ireland’s best will join us to chat all things beverages, with tasty samplers and how-to demos.