Tips For Drinking Champagne
- Champagne should be stored at a temperature between 10 and 12 °C, although a consistency of temperature is more important.
- Larger bottles than magnums may have less sparkle because the wine in them was first fermented in smaller bottles before being re-bottled. Larger bottles generally keep less well too.
- Champagne should be served between 6 and 8 °C. The quickest way to cool a bottle is to place it in a bucket of ice and water for 20 minutes.
- To open a bottle without spilling any champagne slowly twist the cork as you pull it out.
- The best champagne houses, the Grand Marque, are required by French law to put the word 'Champagne' on the part of the cork which fits inside the bottle.
- Champagne should be laid by the seller for one or two years to improve taste and bouquet. It's easy to check if this has been the case by looking at the cork. If the cork maintains its mushroom shape when pulled then the bottle was laid down for the required time.
- The best glass to drink from has a tulip shape which keeps the bouquet and sparkle of the wine longer than a flute or coupe glass.
- To avoid creating too much foam and over-filling a glass, first pour a little champagne in each glass and then top up.
- Unfinished champagne can be kept in a fridge for 24 hours without losing much fizz. Some people keep a metal spoon in the bottle neck, even if there is no evidence this helps.
All text and images copyright. For reuse permission see contact page.
