Gatsby’s bubbly inspires mixers

In the love triangle that is “The Great Gatsby,” Champagne is like the hypotenuse, a thread that runs long and strong opposite the namesake star of the new movie. Bottles upon bottles of Moët & Chandon are swilled and spilled at the movie’s Jazz Age soirees from Long Island to Manhattan.

No surprise Moët & Chandon has created a signature Gatsby cocktail in conjunction with the film’s opening. And no cynical sneers here. I’m a recent convert to sparkling wine, its effervescence bright and sippable after years of deep reds and flat whites.

All that Moët in the movie is neither coincidence nor shameless marketing. The film’s costume and production designer Catherine Martin says the Moët vintage from 1921 was particularly fine, which made it a credible choice for Jay Gatsby in 1922.

Jim Meehan, mixologist at PDT in New York and author of “The PDT Cocktail Book,” was tapped to concoct what was christened the Moët Imperial Gatsby, being served at The Plaza Hotel in New York. Splashing a sugar cube with the French liqueur Chartreuse, he drops it in the bottom of a glass for a mantle of earthy herbaceousness under the crispness of Moët Imperial Champagne.

Purists consider there to be only one true Champagne cocktail. Meehan dates it to Jerry Thomas’ “Bartender’s Guide” from 1862. It consists of Champagne, a sugar cube soaked in Angostura bitters and a lemon twist.

But many mixed drinks incorporate Champagne or sparkling wine: The French 75, which adds a nip of gin or cognac, can be found in Meehan’s book.

Our source at Binny’s Beverage Depot said there’s no need to splurge on Champagne when mixing a drink. A decent brut domestic sparkling wine will do. We went with the moderately priced Chandon ($14) to re-create the French 75 served at Chicago’s Sepia, which uses rosé. The drink’s origins, like most, are imprecise, but its impact was compared to that of a French 75mm field gun, thus the name.