True champagne or sparkling wine -- toast in 2009

Some tips for just the right "bubbly" to ring in the new year.

First, know the difference between sparkling wine and champagne.

"All true champagne comes through Champagne, France," said Wendy Lemar of BevMo! Scottsdale. "It's about 90 miles east of Paris. Anything outside of that area can truly not be called champagne."

The formality of the name will not limit your choices for getting a suitable bubbly to toast in 2009, Lemar said.

"Basically, what you're looking for is methode champenoise, so it will be done in the champagne method, but not produced from that area (in France)," she said. "So the grapes are different, but the technique is still the same and that's what's really important."

Method champenoise is a method in which, after primary fermentation and bottling, a second alcoholic fermentation occurs in the bottle.

A true champagne will usually set you back more than $40 a bottle, while a bottle of cheaper champagne-method bubbly sells for much less, Lemar said.

BevMo! has a true champagne on special for New Year's Eve for about $30.

Lemar suggested deciding if you like dry or sweet -- if you're not sure what your companions will like, dry is probably the best way to go.

If romance is on the agenda, she said, "Something a little more elegant is always good. You could look for a Blanc de blanc if they like a taste of sweetness, something like a Demi-Sec."

If you want to go high end, of course, "Dom Perignon is the number one seller."

Champagne is really not the main ingredient of a successful New Year's Eve, Lemar said.

"It's more about the memory and the time that you're there, who you're sharing it with -- always makes things taste better."