Sushi with sparkling wine is one of the most reliable matches in the realm of gastronomy. When you finally do get in front of some raw fish and bubbles, there aren't many fussy rules to dance around. Most sashimi and sushi go beautifully with most sparkling wines.

Pairing Recommendations

• With sashimi -- slices of raw fish -- French Champagne will interfere least. It's generally drier and less fruity than other sparkling wines. Look for Brut Champagnes; don't choose labels that say Extra Dry or Demi-Sec.

• When choosing your fish for sashimi, avoid those that are oily or too fishy. Mackerel and salmon roe (ikura), for example, may play havoc with your Champagne. Remember that in the world of sushi-and-wine matching, tuna is always your friend.

• If you're having rich-textured sashimi, such as yellowtail, toro, and salmon, you might want to choose a richer-bodied Champagne (Krug, Bollinger, Roederer Cristal).

• With sushi, I love drinking sparkling wines from places other than Champagne -- such as California, northern Spain and northern Italy. The bit of sweetness in sushi rice helps along the match with fruitier, less dry sparkling wines. If you can find a way to slip an avocado into your sushi somehow, so much the better.

• Don't go too far on the sugar meter. Less-dry sparkling wines are still not particularly sweet and will not go well with sushi items that are. I love ending a sushi bar binge, for example, with a hand roll of glazed eel -- but it wouldn't go well with, say, an elegant sparkler from Iron Horse in California, or Bellavista in Italy. Now's the time to go back to Champagne; close your meal, and your eel, with that fairly sweet Extra Dry or Demi-Sec you rejected before.

-David Rosengarten