Everyone loves the pop of a bottle of champagne. Pour it in to glasses and the party has started. While always a good time, these improper techniques may make some people wince. Uncorking the perfect bottle of bubbly takes as much care and thought as selecting it. It should be the proper temperature, uncorked properly and served in the correct glasses to add to your overall champagne experience.
Everyone knows champagne should be served cold. But what does cold mean? Cold means about 43 to 48°F. Whipping out the digital thermometer in the middle of a romantic evening to test the temperature of your champagne can really break the mood, however. The good news is you can trust your champagne will likely reach those frosty temperatures with 3 to 4 hours in a refrigerator, or about 30 minutes soaking in an ice and water (50/50) bath. If you don't have an ice or wine bucket, use a large bowl. You can even use the kitchen sink, allowing for full submersion of the bottle and better overall cooling. A champagne bottle should never be placed in the freezer to cool. If you've ever seen what a champagne cork can do to drywall, you know that the freezer could get messy if the bottle explodes.
While winning Superbowl teams may enjoy popping out the corks of champagne bottles by shaking them up, it's not the best way to open the bottle. The pop and spray of champagne makes for a good show, but a corked champagne bottle is a missile in the making. A bottle should never be pointed at anyone while opening. Even the great "pop" of the cork is something that damages a truly good bottle of champagne. The first thing you need to open a bottle of champagne is a kitchen towel. No, it is not assumed you will cause wine spillage. After you remove the foil and twist off the wire hood, you should place the towel over the cork. Grab a good hold of the cork underneath the towel, and slowly turn the bottle. Yes, the bottle. The idea is to ease the cork out and only hear a gentle hiss when it comes out of the bottle. The hiss is preferred over a pop since it ensures that the bubbles in the champagne end up in your glass, not lost in the air.
After opening the bottle, the champagne needs to make it in to the glass. Proper champagne flutes are ideal, but wine glasses can also be used. The shape of the glass does make a difference. Glasses that have curved sides will help keep the bubbles in the wine longer as opposed to straight-sided glasses.
If you find yourself with leftover champagne at the end of a night, there is no need to pour it down the drain. There are specialized champagne stoppers that can be used or bottles of inert air that protect the champagne from exposure to air, but unless you imbibe champagne frequently, the investment in one is not needed. A bottle of champagne can be closed by using some cellophane wrap and a rubber band. Simply place the wrap over the bottle, and then secure it at the neck of the bottle using the rubber band. A cork should never be placed in a bottle of champagne because carbonation can build up and pop it out. To ease the carbonation buildup when closing with cellophane, you should also use a pint to poke a small whole in the wrap. This ensures a way for any build-up of carbonation to escape, and if you consume the leftover champagne the next day, you should still have some bubbles.
