I distinctly remember a time in the not-too-distant past when sparkling wine was considered so infra dig that if it was served at all at parties the bottles would be wrapped in a cloth during the pouring process lest the identity of the hooch be discovered and the host and/or hostess cover themselves with shame.

More than anything, what has changed this view is the rise in popularity of Prosecco. At last, here was a wine that one didn’t feel obliged to compare to champagne, since it wasn’t even trying to ape France’s finest. Prosecco was happy to be exactly what it was: an extremely toothsome party fizz of the easy-to-drink sort.

And there has been a real renaissance elsewhere, with high-end sparklers narrowing the gap in terms of both style and quality with the better champagnes. English sparkling wines are, no doubt, causing a few creased Gallic foreheads; the US offers plenty of reward to the champagne substitute hunter. And there are plenty of other sources.

The problem for these wines if, of course, that one can get such deals on decent champagne these days that one would be paying more for a champagne imitation than one would for the real thing. So perhaps we end up back at Prosecco: c. £10 a bottle for something that’s not trying to be something it’s not.