Bubbling Under

Just the pop of a cork and the whoosh of bubbles will make your summer party go with a swing. It is the simple solution to party-giving and it means that you don't have to assemble a range of cocktail ingredients or a table-full of wine bottles, and it allows you to spend your time talking to your guests while circulating with a bottle to top up glasses.

All you need is a large ice-bucket, or just a nice new galvanised steel bucket from a hardware shop. Fill it with bottles and heap crushed ice over them and you will have chilled fizz all day.

Fizz is amazingly adaptable. It will go with all kinds of foods from a handful of crisps to posh canaps, or you can even keep the fizz flowing through a buffet of salads and desserts. Only if the barbecue fires up do you really need to seek out something bigger in flavour to cope with the food. So with fizz as your drink of choice, what should you select?

Pink is definitely this season's colour and one of my good value favourites is Lindauer Ros from New Zealand (on offer at Majestic, 7.99 on multibuy). Made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with just a splash of Pinotage to give it light cherry fruit and a soft shade of pink, this has quality far above its price tag.

Bluff Hill Ros at Marks and Spencer captures much the same kind of flavours, which is hardly surprising since it comes from the same supplier, but the Bluff Hill is at its full price of 9.99, so follow the bargain if you can cope with Majestic's minimum six bottle purchase requirement. M&S has quite a clutch of Italian pink fizz, all with different tastes for different occasions. My top choice is their Bellante Ros which is on offer, down from 8.99 to 6.99.

This is the wine which used to be called Prosecco Raboso and it comes from the Veneto region of North east Italy, but since it does not come exactly from the designated corner which holds the DOC for Prosecco they have had to change the name. The flavours are still the same, however, and capture soft raspberry fruit with just a hint of sweetness to make it appeal to everyone, although there is a nice crisp finish which makes this wine very food friendly.

Pour this from mid-morning through to evening, especially if there is sunshine outside. A lot sweeter is Moscato Freisa Vino Spumante (M&S, 7.99) which is an absolute perfect match for the alcoholic version of afternoon tea. It will accompany a few cakes or fruit-topped meringues with ease and its bright, grapey summer fruit flavours will keep conversation flowing.

To really impress the neighbours you can pop the cork on an English ros fizz such as the own-label version from Marks and Spencer (19.99) which comes from Chapel Down.

This Kent-based producer has its own vineyards but also scoops up grapes from surrounding areas, often from small English growers who don't yet have their own wineries. The result is a crisp, apple-fresh style of ros, with a delicate floral nose and a fresh, lively style. Definitely an aperitif style of wine, it actually smells like an English garden.

Move up the scale to Balfour Brut Ros which comes from the private estate of one of Britain's top hoteliers, Richard Balfour-Lynn and you can taste the investment that he has put into his delightfully named Hush Heath estate.

Made from the same grape varieties as champagne, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, this wine collects trophies like a magnet and so its price of 34.99 (large Waitrose stores or from Waitrose Direct, www.waitrosewine.com) is to be expected. It is delicate in colour, with a fine complexity of flavour which challenges a great many pink champagnes.

Of course, pink champagne will give your party a sense of real occasion and my top favourite is Gosset's Grand Ros (53.25, Field and Fawcett, 01904 489073) which captures the taste of summer berries, a touch of freshly baked Danish pastries and a soft, silky, texture. This really is an exceptional wine and I love the distinctive old-style bottle.

Bollinger's fairly new Ros Champagne wine (Majestic, down to 45 on

multibuy until August 30) is also delicious with Pinot-dominated fruit

and a gentle, strawberries and cream texture taste.

Now owned by Bollinger but operated as a completely separate entity, the champagne house of Ayala has been improving year by year and their Ayala Ros champagne (on offer at Marks and Spencer, from 30 to 22 until September 5) is really quite a bargain. This is a pale ros, more ballet shoes pink than raspberry ros but there is plenty of flavour lurking in the glass. Elegance, complexity and a superb finish make this wine a very attractive deal.

Only those with recession-proof earnings can afford to pour champagne for a large gathering and you don't actually need to splash the cash to get finely-balanced fruit.

At the Waitrose tasting I was very impressed by Blason de Bourgogne Crmant de Bourgogne Ros Brut (9.74, on offer at Waitrose until August 24).

The grapes for this wine are grown

on the same streak of chalk which

runs into Champagne but since they

are outside the zone, just west of

Chablis, they are in a completely different price category.

Made from Pinot Noir with a splash of Gamay, this is a pale, zesty, fresh-tasting pink fizz that will delight your guests

all afternoon.

Take care of the glasses you are planning to use for your party and wash them, by hand if you have time, rinsing them carefully and drying by hand. Traces of rinse-aid from a dishwasher

will dampen the bubbles and leave your fizz tasting fairly flat.

Most supermarkets, Majestic and independents will lend or hire glasses. Ice is also a vital ingredient to keep bottles cool, especially in sunshine.