+1. Once you add orange juice (especially not very good one) and ice cubes, I'd bet that even the finest wine experts wouldn't recognise their LGPS from the Castelnau if it has been opened a bit too long. This is why I think it is a shame to do it with a Champagne which typically retails for about £100/bottle if you can get the same result with one which costs £20 (while by contrast, the difference between the two is most obvious when you just drink it on its own). Once in a while, I do fancy a kir royal, a bellini (or indeed a bucks fizz) but I would never do it with Champagnes that are excellent on their own, in the same way that I occasionally love to cook a wine reduction for my food but would never do it with a Petrus or a Mouton Rothschild.

On whisky, I also don't get the hype of the JW Blue. Not my thing. Blended don't really do it for me and I also have my whisky neat. No water, no soda, no nothing. This being said, for amateurs, JW Blue was here again and seems to have become a constant again. BTW, as far as the spirits department is concerned, I do miss a nice herbal one like a Chartreuse or a Linie Aquavit, and I do miss a good fruit brandy (a nice xo Calvados or a good williams pear 'coeur de chauffe' would be very nice for example!). A truly nice Port and a truly nice sweet wine (like one of the nicer Tokaj) would also be lovely to have. Here you go, I've made my shopping list now!