Hello World! Welcome Friends! Named after the French region where it is produced, champagne remains one of the most famous wines today. While not all sparkling wine can be called that, the term has also been used to describe bubbly wine.
Technicalities aside, toasting with champagne on special occasions has continued through the years since it was first introduced in the 1700s. But what was once a status symbol in the royal courts of Europe has now become everyone’s favorite celebratory drink.
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Here are four things you must remember when storing it:
1. Keep Champagne Away from Bright Light
One of the most crucial things you need to remember when storing bottles of champagne is to keep them in the dark – literally.
Experts strongly advise that you store bottles of this fizzy drink away from any source of bright light. This ensures that the beverage doesn’t develop a ‘taste of light’ – a goût de lumière, as the French call it. This also applies to indirect sunlight and artificial light.
Exposure to direct sunlight affects the drink’s temperature and its chemical makeup, which inadvertently compromises the taste.
In other words, exposure to light can ruin champagne or any kind of wine.
2. Maintain the Right Temperature
Another key element you’ll want to focus on when storing champagne and other types of wine is the temperature. This affects both the taste and texture of any wine, including bubbly champagne.
If you’re setting aside a bottle for a short while, make sure it remains just under room temperature but higher than freezing.
If you’re keeping it for the long term, the temperature range should remain between 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit, though some purists swear by 55 degrees.
As much as possible, prevent it from going anywhere above 70 degrees, as such conditions can cause the degradation of the wine. Meanwhile, too low temperatures may dry out the cork and cause oxygen to seep into the bottle.
Also, note the storage humidity and keep it around 70 to 85 per cent.
If you plan on keeping more champagnes at home for the long term, consider investing in a wine fridge. A regular kitchen refrigerator is kept at 40 degrees and below for food safety, so it is not ideal for wine storage.
Keep in mind that consistent temperature is much more critical than achieving recommended ranges. Any extreme adjustments could cause the liquid to contract and expand, causing seepage and ruining the champagne.
3. Position the Bottle Based on Storage Time
Most wines are laid down on their sides in wine racks and fridges. This practice ensures that the cork doesn’t dry out and prevents air from seeping into the bottles.
But champagne isn’t like most wines. Some wine experts and licenced liquor stores in Dubai believe that the angle of storage depends on how long you plan to keep the champagne:
- If the bottle will be opened within a month or less, you can keep the bottle upright.
- If it takes more than a month for you to get through to that bottle, you should lay it horizontally on a shelf or rack.
Note that other wine experts don’t recommend horizontal champagne storage. Some consider it unnecessary since the bubbles inside the bottle help maintain a nice and humid environment that prevent the cork from drying out.
Some also believe that laying the bottle at this angle might lead to cork taint, characterised by a musky smell and flavor on the wine.
At the end of the day, it’s all up to you.
4. Learn How to Store an Opened Bottle
If, for whatever reason, you couldn’t finish a bottle of champagne in one sitting, make sure you do so within three to five days after opening. This applies to both vintage and non-vintage variants of the drink.
Try to cork up the champagne bottle as soon as possible so that if it isn’t finished once the celebration is done, you can keep it fresh and bubbly before storage. However, you must remember not to reuse the cork it came with.
Use a hermetic cork instead. This reusable cork keeps the air tightly sealed in the bottle and keeps oxygen from sneaking in to ruin the leftover champagne. If you don’t have such a device handy, you can improvise with a home hack version – a plastic wrap kept in shape with a tightly wound rubber band.
Once it’s sealed, keep the bottle in the fridge. If there’s no room there, you can simply look for a cool, dark place and use that as your champagne storage. Aim to keep it chilled so that the fizz doesn’t get flat.
Ready to Pop the Cork? Chill (Don’t Freeze) the Champagne
When serving champagne, it is important that you cool it gradually for about four hours in the refrigerator.
If you don’t have that much time or would prefer a quicker alternative, you can chill unopened bottles in Ice buckets for about ten to 25 minutes for a lovely, chilled glass. Never put your champagne bottle in the freezer, as the low temperature inside could ruin its flavor.
A Drink Fit for Royalty
Champagne is a celebratory beverage made popular by royalty, so it’s only fitting that you take it like one.
Enjoy this wine at its finest by knowing how to store and serve it as recommended in this article.
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