A TOAST TO THE MILLENNIUM.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Food Editor

With the millennium celebration just a few days away, soon it'll be time to raise our glasses and drink a toast to 2000. Despite the hype surrounding the arrival of 2000, a recent poll shows that 79 percent of Americans plan to celebrate at home. And nearly half of all Americans plan to ring in the millennium with a champagne toast, according to a survey by Korbel Champagne Cellars.

But before you lift your glass, here are a few pointers on proper etiquette and toasting, if there is any such thing.

``I think the underlying requirement is to make it (the toast) considerate and respectful of the people you are with,'' says Peter Post, the great grandson of Emily Post and co-author with his sister-in-law Peggy Post of the recently released, ``The Etiquette Advantage in Business'' (HarperCollins; $35).

A business function calls for one type of toast, whereas at a gathering of family or friends something else might be appropriate.

``There's nothing wrong with toasting without liquor. You don't have to feel obligated to have alcohol if you don't want to,'' stresses Post. Toasting or raising a glass filled with water, sparkling water, ginger ale (which looks similar to champagne), cola or whatever else you like is perfectly acceptable and part of the fun.

A toast doesn't need to be long. ``It can be 30 seconds or a minute if there's something you want to say. You are trying to get the sentiment of the moment across,'' says Post.

``The toast should be positive, serious and to the point - no inside jokes,'' advises Gary Heck, president and chairman, Korbel Champagne Cellars, in Guerneville, adding that the person delivering it should practice, stand up tall and hold the glass out in front of him/her.

Kari Leitch, communications manager at Domaine Ste. Michelle winery in Paterson, Wash., believes the toast should be succinct and speak to the heart.

``Saying something heartfelt is always appropriate and the briefer the better,'' say Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, co-authors of ``The Wall Sreet Journal Guide to Wine,'' (Broadway Books; $25), who write a weekly wine tastings column in the Journal's Weekend edition.

At toasting time, Post suggests everyone else lift their glass to eye, face or chin level - and after the toast everyone should touch glasses with the person on the right and left and those in the immediate proximity.

``Toasting was a real ceremony in years past,'' says Post. In these casual times usually the person giving the toast stands while others remain seated. In more formal circumstances, however, every one in attendance stands. It all depends on the gathering, the occasion and the people involved, notes Post.

So what does Post propose as a general toast for 2000? Possibilities might include:

``Happy Millennium''; ``Let's raise our glasses to the future''; or ``This moment is an opportunity for us to separate the past from the future. We can gather that which is best about our past and use it as a spring board to begin anew. Happy Millenium or Happy New Year

''

Many people are going to thank guests for being there and say Happy New Year, believes Post.

Brecher proposes the following toast: ``May the next year be a great vintage for you - or for everybody.'' Gaiter's suggestion is ``May you always have something wonderful in your glass.''

Or you can just wish and hope for good health and happiness in the year ahead, advises the twosome. A year is plenty to toast they say - not a whole millennium. ``Everything we do is wine related,'' note the duo, adding that it's hard to think in terms of looking ahead even more than one year.

To help toasters-to-be honor this momentous occasion, Korbel Champagne Cellars searched for a year for the ideal toast in its Ultimate Millennium Toast Contest. From the almost 1,000 entries received from consumers throughout the country, they selected the following grand-prize winning toast written by David Akers of New Hampshire, which earned him a trip for two to New York's Time Square for Friday's millennium celebration.

``His entry represents the sentiments Korbel believes are integral elements of the best celebrations - strong traditions, reverence for the past and hope for the future,'' says Korbel's Heck, who urges everybody to celebrate responsibility. ``David's toast is the perfect salute to the Millenium.''

Raise your glass high! 2000 bubbles, one for each year. Round like the world, promising good cheer. A tribute to mankind for all we've achieved. To the courage and sacrifice of those who believed. Goodbye to a millennium, hello to a new. Here's to the pleasure of beginning with you!

Domaine Ste. Michelle also offers the following millennium toasts gathered from responses in a recent consumer survey.

Here's to a fresh start, full of possibilities, twists and turns, and good luck with continued love, health and happiness.

A new millennium - a new beginning. To 2000!

Yesterday is past, tomorrow future, today is a gift, that's why it's called the present.

And here's a toast Benjamin Franklin once gave: ``Be at war with your voices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man.''

``We're making the millennium into something because we choose to,'' continues Post, who is spending New Year's Eve at home with a few friends from his Vermont office. ``We like, as a society, to mark moments in time - birthdays, wedding anniversaries, graduations, and I think for good or bad, we have identified the millennium as a moment to reflect and to look forward - and so people are making something of it. The millennium is an opportunity - and a time to separate the past from the future.''