When it comes to celebratory wine, It’s not just about the price, it’s about the occasion. Prosecco for birthdays and big tables, Champagne when there’s a toast, rosé Champagne for an anniversary. Everything below is on our list at 214 King Street West, at what we actually charge.

We get this question most nights, usually somewhere between the coats coming off and the menus landing. Someone booked the table for a reason. They want the night to feel like it did in their head. And now they’re holding a wine list hoping not to get it wrong in front of eight people.

It’s not that hard. Give us a description of the event, and we’ll get down to two bottles in about 30 seconds.

 

What Is The Best Sparkling Wine For a Birthday or Group Celebration?

 

Almost always Prosecco. It is light, it is fruity and everyone with a different taste will be happy with it on a table. Ours is the Villa Folini Brut from the Veneto at $61.

Prosecco is less refined than Champagne, more on the nose than anything else, with a nonchalant finish. That is what you’re looking for in that first half hour before everyone has eaten, everyone’s had their say, and the party has wound down.

It also happens to be the safest bottle on any list, which makes it the one we leave in our cellar more than anything else, any birthday night. 

 

What is a Good Alternative To Champagne for a Celebration?

 

Cava, and it’s the closest thing you’ll find. Parés Baltà Brut from Penedès, $68 a bottle. Same traditional method as Champagne, aged on its lees the same way, priced nothing like it.

It drinks drier and more mineral than Prosecco, with a finer bead and a slightly bready, savoury thing going on underneath from the aging. If you want a bit more backbone than Prosecco but you’d sooner spend the difference on the food, this is where we’d point you.

It’s also our pick for the guest who arrives convinced they already know what they like.

 

Which Champagne Should I Order for a Milestone Toast?

 

A champagne bottle from Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial, $232. It’s dry, it’s crisp, and I’m sure at this table everyone knows what it is, and that is the point of the bottle, anyway.

Green apple and citrus in the front, a nice soft brioche in the rear. Dry enough that it doesn’t quit after the toast, so you can carry it into the first course.

One thing people miss: we keep it in a 375ml half bottle at $141. Two people, one proper Champagne moment, no obligation to finish a full bottle before the mains land. It’s become the quiet anniversary order.

Veuve Clicquot Brut sits alongside it at $229 if you’d rather something a touch rounder.

 

Which Sparkling Wine is Best for an Anniversary or Romantic Dinner?

Rosé Champagne. It’s got more body and more red fruit, and it won’t quit on you halfway through dinner. Ours is the Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé at $270.

All Pinot Noir, which you taste straight away. Strawberry, raspberry, and enough weight to stand up to actual food. Most sparkling wine has given up by the time the antipasti clears. This one doesn’t, so it’s what we suggest when someone tells us they’ve booked the table for the whole evening.

And it looks extraordinary under the chandelier, which isn’t a trivial consideration when the whole point was to sit somewhere beautiful. Ask for a booth, come on a Sunday when John Campbell is at the piano, and don’t hurry.

 

What is the Best Sparkling Wine for a Major Milestone Or Special Occasion?

 

Vintage Champagne, for the nights that actually warrant it. Dom Pérignon 2013 at $669, or Louis Roederer Cristal 2015 at $899.

Vintage means one year’s harvest and a lot longer in the cellar before it’s released, and that’s where the complexity comes from. The 2013 Dom has almond and stone fruit in it, and a mineral finish that just keeps going. Don’t hold it back for the toast. Open it early, because it’ll still be changing in the glass an hour later.

Ordering at this end of the list, give us a ring first on (416) 921-1471. We’d sooner have the bottle and the table ready than keep you waiting while we sort it out.

 

What Can Non-Drinkers Toast With at a Celebration?

 

A good non-alcoholic sparkling. Ours is the Bella Glamour from the Veneto, $57, and it pours with the same fine bead and crisp orchard fruit as the real thing.

Nobody should be lifting a glass of tap water while the speeches happen. The designated driver, someone expecting, anyone who just isn’t drinking tonight, they all get something proper in hand. It matters more than people think it does.

 

How Much Sparkling Wine Do You Need For a Celebration?

 

A 750ml bottle gives you about six flutes. Toasting only, one bottle per six guests. Drinking it through the meal, one per two or three. Twenty people toasting and then moving to red, call it four bottles.

Then add one or two on top of whatever you worked out, because the first half hour always goes quicker than anyone plans for.

Doing something bigger? 

Our private dining team will work the numbers out with you beforehand so nothing runs dry mid-speech.

 

How Should Sparkling Wine Be Served at a Special Occasion?

 

Cold but not frozen, around 6 to 8°C, in a tulip glass rather than a flute. Twenty minutes in a bucket of ice and water will do more than three hours in a fridge.

Too warm and it goes flat and heavy on the palate. Too cold and you’ve frozen out everything worth smelling.

On glassware, we know flutes photograph better. Tulips taste better, because the wider bowl gives the wine somewhere to open up. If you’ve ordered anything vintage, ask us for tulips and we’ll bring them.

Pouring: tilt the glass, run it down the side, do it in two goes. You keep the bubbles and avoid the foam disaster.

Last thing, and people rarely believe this one. Don’t race through the bottle. Sparkling wine shifts over an hour, and the second glass is usually better than the first.

 

How Do I Choose Wine Based on the Type of Celebration?

 

Match the wine to the mood of the night, not to the guest of honour’s palate. They’ll be too busy talking to notice anyway.

Birthdays run social and loose, so you want something easy that you can order more of. Prosecco, Cava, nothing that demands anyone concentrate. Anniversaries pull the other direction, quieter and smaller, and that’s where rosé Champagne or a half bottle of Moët earns its money. 

Milestones justify a vintage. Corporate nights sit awkwardly in the middle: Champagne for the toast because the label does the reassuring, then something from the list that actually goes with what people are eating.

Genuinely though, the easiest thing is to tell your server what the occasion is instead of what you want. Better question, better bottle, and it takes ten seconds.

 

What are Good Gift Wines for Special Occasions?

 

Honestly? A gift card usually beats a bottle. 

A Blu Ristorante gift card hands someone an entire evening, the room, the pianist, the list, on a night that works for them, rather than a wine they’ll end up drinking on a Wednesday in front of the television.

If you want the bottle too, we’ll have it waiting at the table for someone else’s celebration. Just mention it when you book.

 

Where Can I Celebrate With Sparkling Wine in Toronto?

 

Blu Ristorante, 214 King Street West. OpenTable diners have named us one of Canada’s Most Romantic Restaurants more than once, and on most evenings a good share of our tables are marking something.

Start in the wine bar with a glass of something cold before you sit down. After that it’s the five-course tasting menu, a table under the 25-foot ceilings, or one of the private rooms if there are more of you.

Book a table, and tell us what we’re celebrating.

Prices are current as of writing. Vintages and stock move around, so check with us for the latest.

 

FAQs

 

How do I choose a wine based on the type of celebration?

A loud night wants something you can keep ordering without thinking, so Prosecco or Cava. Quiet nights are when rosé Champagne makes sense, or a half bottle of something genuinely good. Milestones are the only time we’d tell you a vintage is worth the money. And if the table’s big and everyone likes different things, just order Prosecco. It isn’t a compromise; it’s the reason it exists.

 

Which sparkling wines are best suited for a celebratory toast?

Dry because it must last through the speech. Brut champagne if it’s a label your guests will care about, and they always do more than you’d think. Brut prosecco if it’s not. Never sweet; it goes syrupy at once when it warms in somebody’s hand.

 

How much sparkling wine should I buy for a celebration?

Toast only, one bottle for six people. Drinking all night long, one for two or three people. But then again, get more than that. There has not been a single occasion where we have seen a host underestimate and the first half an hour vanishes faster than expected. About twenty people toasting and shifting to the red variety would consume four bottles, at least.

 

What should I consider when choosing wine for a birthday celebration?

Order the table, not the birthday boy. They will talk the night away, and won’t even notice what they’re drinking. Order something nice and cheap which they can have all night rather than an expensive bottle which they’ll only get to drink once. Say the word when you order, and we’ll chill it and place it at their table before they sit down.

 

How should sparkling wine be served at a special occasion?

Cold, 6 to 8°C. Twenty minutes in ice and water does more than a whole afternoon in the fridge. Tulip glass, not a flute. We know the flute photographs better. It also traps everything worth smelling, so if you’ve spent real money on the bottle, ask us for tulips. Pour down the side of a tilted glass, in two goes. And open it early. People save the good bottle for the end of the night and it’s the wrong instinct, because sparkling wine gets better over an hour and the second glass is usually the one you remember.