How to serve champagne correctly is what this article is devoted to. Before enjoying champagne, it must be properly stored, opened, drunk and served with appropriate appetizers. Champagne is not only a traditional drink for New Year and Christmas.
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Sparkling wine is suitable for any occasion. An evening with friends, any family celebration, a romantic dinner. You can choose your own champagne for each moment, the main thing is to serve it correctly.
How to serve champagne correctly
Like any noble wine, champagne should be stored properly before opening the treasured bottle.
At what temperature should champagne be stored?
Champagne should be stored at a temperature of 12-14 degrees Celsius, preferably in a room with high humidity. The bottle should be placed on its side. This will prevent the cork from drying out and better preserve the drink.
At what temperature should champagne be served?
Now it's time to open the bottle. Some subtleties must be observed. Champagne should not be served too cold. Cold breaks down the bubbles and leaves less flavor. The correct temperature for serving champagne is 9-11 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the aroma of champagne is fully revealed and perfect bubbles are formed. In one phrase, the secret of serving champagne can be expressed as follows:
Store it in a cool place and serve chilled.
Time to open a bottle of champagne
Opening a bottle of champagne can be a very dramatic and tense moment. It's better to do it right and not end up with a half-empty bottle, a stained suit and a sticky puddle. Firstly, you should never point the neck of the bottle at anyone when opening it. The best way to open a bottle is as follows:
- Place the bottle on a flat surface or press it to your body at an angle of 45*.
- Remove foil covering
- Unscrew and remove the metal mesh, while holding the plug with your hand so that it does not come out prematurely.
- Turn the bottle under the cork and wait until you hear the characteristic “sigh” of the cork, then calmly open the cork.
- Pour into glasses should not be in the center, but along the edge of the glass, being careful.
Watch a video from the chef on how to perfectly open champagne and pour it into a glass.
By using this technique, you won't hurt anyone, avoid wasting champagne, and get perfect foam and bubbles. After opening, it is best to store champagne in a metal bucket with ice and water. This will allow you to preserve its excellent qualities longer.
Serve the right glasses
A bottle of champagne is open and waiting for its finest hour. Time to pour the champagne into glasses! There is a subtlety here! Champagne is often poured into regular wine glasses. This is a classic mistake. Champagne poured into ordinary glasses looks good, but quickly loses all its properties. Glasses for ordinary wine are too wide for champagne, the aroma and bubbles evaporate instantly. Champagne should be poured into champagne glasses!
It is better to purchase an inexpensive set of champagne glasses than to pour the drink into expensive glasses designed for red wine. The ideal champagne glass is shaped like a tulip. The glass is elongated, widening in the middle and narrowing at the top. This form preserves the freshness and aroma of the drink longer and promotes the formation of bubbles.
The Best Champagne Snacks
Have you ever wondered when is the best time to serve champagne? Before, during lunch or after lunch? Although, it can be assumed that this depends on personal preferences. It is believed that it is better to serve champagne before or during lunch. It is not recommended to serve champagne with dessert.
A sweet dessert does not go well with champagne and can ruin the entire taste of sparkling wine. In addition, there may be stomach problems. If champagne is served before lunch, then cheese should be served as an appetizer. Various types of cheese and other salty snacks go well with the sparkling taste of champagne.
If champagne is served during lunch, then the ideal appetizer is seafood, various types of meat or creamy Italian pasta with savory vegetables and herbs. The holiday is over, but there is still half a bottle left. How to save the rest of the holiday?
Champagne will keep its properties for several days, provided that you select a suitable cork and keep the bottle in the refrigerator. The more the bottle is filled, the longer the champagne will retain its properties. How to serve champagne is no longer a big secret, all you have to do is wait for the holiday and put all the tips into practice.
I suggest you watch a very funny video: How not to open champagne!
Champagne. How to choose, rules of use.How to determine the quality of champagne
Madame Bollinger is one of the champagne “widows” who made the House of Bollinger a famous world brand. We mere mortals drink champagne mainly on holidays, and even then not always. But in a few days, massive bottles of sparkling wine will crown every table.
True champagne
“How many times have they told the world…” But I will say it again, once again. Champagne is a sparkling wine that is produced using a special technology in the province of Champagne from Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay grape varieties. Other sparkling alcohol has no right to be called champagne. Among the most popular brands of champagne are Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, Laurent-Perrier, Lanson, Moet&Chandon, H.Mumm&Cie, Piper-Heidsieck, Pol Roger, Pommery, Ruinart, Charles Lafitte.
Types of champagne
Champagne wines vary in degree of sweetness. In Ultra-brut wine (Ultra-brut) - less than 6 grams of sugar per liter, in Brut (Brut) - less than 15, in Extra-dry (very dry) - from 12 to 20, in Sec (dry) - 17-35 , in Demi-sec (semi-sweet) - from 33 to 50, in Doux (sweet) - over 50.
There is also such a classification. Champagne Millesime ages the longest. Millesime means “harvest year”, that is, when producing it, they do not resort to mixing wines from different vintages. Champagne Blanc de blancs ("white from white") is created only from white Chardonnay. For Champagne Blanc de noirs ("white from black"), only red Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier varieties are fermented. Champagne Rose (pink champagne) acquires the desired color by briefly soaking the skins of red grapes in must or by mixing red and white wine.
Champagne alternative
Hand on heart, few Russians celebrate real champagne on New Year's Eve. In most cases, it is replaced with sparkling wine. However, there is a difference between substitute and substitute. You can put “Soviet Champagne” on the table, or you can have the South American Kaapse Vonkel 2006 (490 rubles) - a very pleasant brut with notes of fresh bread and citrus. And even better - the award-winning Carla de Vallformosa Brut Reserva with the aroma of apple pie (1,050 rubles). If you want a more spicy taste and don’t mind 1,380 rubles, take “Clairette de Die” Jean-Claude Raspail: the three-quarters of nutmeg it contains gives a persistent fruity spirit.
About bubbles
It would seem that just a large amount of carbon dioxide - but how much pleasure. Each bottle of champagne potentially contains 49,000,000 bubbles. The smaller they are in diameter, the better your champagne. If the bubbles rise evenly from the bottom and accumulate at the walls, this is good. If this game fades quickly, then the champagne is not of the best quality. To make champagne last longer in the bottle after it has been opened, hang a spoon in the neck: the bubbles will not evaporate so quickly.
How to drink champagne
Supply temperature
Champagne must be chilled up to +9°С. We must remember that during use it will have time to heat up. up to +13°С. Old champagne is served at a higher temperature - up to 12°С, which highlights his wine side. Fill the champagne ice bucket halfway with water, which will help cool the drink to the desired temperature faster. This will also help you save ice, which bars and restaurants usually need in large quantities.
It takes about one hour to cool champagne in a bucket to a temperature of +7°C, if before that it had a temperature of +20°C.
Don't forget to add water to the ice bucket! If there is no water in the bucket, then the champagne is either overcooled or not cooled enough, because the ice is not in contact with the entire surface of the bottle. I've seen too many bottles in bars and restaurants just sitting on a pile of ice. This is a completely useless procedure for cooling. If you need to quickly cool a bottle of champagne, you can add a handful of salt and a glass of sparkling water to the bucket. Use this trick only when absolutely necessary.
Regulation
To be eligible to be called "champagne", a wine must meet the following requirements:
produced only in the Champagne region;
Be obtained from certain grape varieties: two red - Pinot Meunier (Pinot Meunier) and Pinot Noir (Pinot Noir) and one white - Chardonnay (Chardonnay);
During production, only technology used in a given region can be used.
The assortment of snacks is very diverse: fruit, sandwiches with caviar, good cheese, salads, white meat dishes, game, biscuits with fruits and berries.
What to drink champagne with
Thus, the appetizer should match the nobility of the drink itself. It goes well with fruits, roasted nuts, chocolate, halva and ice cream. In Europe, it is customary to serve it with cheese. It is not recommended to snack on champagne with chocolate and chocolates. Another type of insult is to stir the glass with a wire (muzzle) in order to stop the release of bubbles, because the winemaker has put so much work into these.
Champagne requires careful handling. Improper storage of champagne leads to its deviation from the norm.
Expensive and prestigious cocktails are prepared using champagne, such as Champagne Cocktail or Kir Royal.
Champagne perfectly accompanies the entire dinner. Serving dishes with champagne is more versatile than with wines, which require different serving temperatures and pair differently with dishes.
Champagne is always served chilled. Precisely chilled, not frozen. In some restaurants it is often served at a temperature of 3-4C, which is only desirable for bad sparkling wine: in this way it is possible to hide some of its flaws. Champagne, especially good champagne, will not reveal all its aromatic qualities at low temperatures. The optimal serving temperature for regular champagne is 7-9C, the best brands: 9-12. You can cool the champagne in the refrigerator (but do not store it there) or, best of all, in a bucket of ice and water. In the second case, it is necessary to have a little more water. If you do the opposite or simply cover the bottle with ice, the cooling will be too slow and incomplete. In order for it to be uniform, it is recommended to periodically turn the bottle in the bucket. How long should I keep the bottle in the bucket? It depends on its initial temperature. It’s one thing if you brought a bottle from a cellar with a constant 14C, another thing if it was in a warm room. Experience is the best guide here, but in any case you should not keep the bottle in the bucket for too long: as a rule, the wine reaches the desired temperature in 15-30 minutes. It is also necessary to remember that, firstly, large-volume bottles require longer cooling; secondly, wine warms up quickly in a glass (by 2-3 degrees), so it is advisable to cool the bottle slightly below the drinking temperature. And of course, if you drink champagne slowly, after a while you need to return the bottle to the bucket. In a regular refrigerator, champagne is cooled for 1.5-2 hours, but even here everything depends on its initial temperature. Freezers are, of course, excluded.
Champagne is poured two-thirds full (usually in two portions) into tall, narrow crystal glasses (flute), strictly functional, without any decorations, notches, colored inserts, gold rims, etc.
Of course, the glasses must be perfectly clean and dry - otherwise the bouquet and gas bubbles will suffer. That is why it is extremely important to rinse the glasses thoroughly to completely remove the detergent from them, and then wipe them dry with a clean towel or leave them to dry upside down. However, in the second case, immediately before serving, it is advisable to wipe the glasses with a completely clean towel to remove dust and streaks left by water. Some experts recommend additionally rinsing glasses with distilled or mineral water with a low salt content. Many people believe that they should only wash glasses with warm water, without using detergents, and then let them dry without wiping. There is probably a reason for this, since even the cleanest towel can have some kind of odor and leave lint behind.
How to determine the quality of champagne? First of all, you need to study it visually. Good champagne should be completely clean and transparent, beautiful in color, with a lively shine, light, openwork, pleasing to the eye foam, after settling of which its traces remain along the edges of the glass, the so-called necklace (cordon or collier). Sometimes, however, this is what they say about chains of bubbles and their play on the surface of the wine. Bubbles, which are often compared to small pearls, are formed due to microscopic irregularities at the bottom of the glass and should normally be very small and exactly the same in diameter. But you shouldn’t rush to conclusions: the quality of the bubbles should be judged no earlier than 30 seconds after filling the glass, when its temperature and the temperature of the champagne are equal (at first the bubbles may be large and uneven). Under no circumstances should you pre-cool the glass (with ice or in the refrigerator): this will inevitably lead to the formation of moisture on its walls, which will negatively affect the quality of the champagne.
After examining the champagne (tasters call this phase the “eye”), they smell it (“nose”). Good champagne should have a complex, rich and subtle bouquet (a harmonious combination of aromas), which may contain the smells of flowers, fruits, berries, spices, dough, almonds, walnuts, licorice, vanilla, cocoa, butter, bread crumb, biscuit, minerals (petroleum, silicon), aromatic resins, honey, wax. Vegetable (wood, leaves, pine needles, juniper, eucalyptus, heather) and empyrematic odors (burnt, burnt, baked, dried - for example, roasted seeds, burnt wood, hay, straw) are possible. Smells of yeast and alcohol are typical of less-than-good champagne, although the alcohol smell may be a result of the drink not being chilled enough. Champagne that is too old or spoiled may smell musty, rotten, mold, vinegar, sour milk, etc. Of course, normal wine should not have chemical odors (phenol, acetone, iodine, sulfur); by the way, yeast and alcohol also belong to this category.
The third phase of tasting is called the “mouth”. The taste of good champagne must first of all be balanced. In other words, none of the main components of the wine (alcohol, sugar and acidity) should dominate or be perceived separately. Harmony, sophistication and fullness of taste are the main indicators of good champagne.
And finally, the aftertaste, or, as they say in France, the duration in the mouth. The better the wine, the longer the aftertaste lasts. Unpleasant sensations in the mouth from bad or spoiled champagne, of course, cannot be called an aftertaste.
As mentioned above, champagne is a universal wine. However, its versatility is relative. Being a white natural wine (pink champagne, of course, has certain characteristics, but its properties are still closer to white wine than to red), champagne does not go well with red meat, although some compromises are possible here, not to mention individual preferences .
Champagne, in addition, is an excellent aperitif, as the subtlety of its aroma and piquant taste prepares well for a meal. Naturally, the gastronomic recommendations offered to your attention cannot be considered either exhaustive or absolute. These are just some tips on the most typical combinations.
Cold and hot appetizers, seafood, soups - a simple brut with a high content of Chardonnay or blank de blanks. Oysters, lobster, scallops, foie gras, plum sorbet, vegetable salads, veal chop, baby spinach, goose, pancakes with caviar, goose terrine, roasted snapper, fresh fig pie, saddle of lamb with thyme, char, crab, soufflé from pike – white brut of medium intensity.
Fish pate, kulebyaka or fish aspic, poultry aspic, beef jelly - brut zero. Truffles – brut blank de noirs.
White meat (poultry), veal with cream sauce, crop terrine, wild strawberries, nectarines, game birds, lamb thigh, rose brut duck. Monkfish medallions with grapefruit, game birds, hare, venison, pheasant, smoked trout, perch with sweet dill, turbot fish, flounder, shellfish, shrimp with basil, baked salmon, crayfish, young goat cheese, sole fillet in flour , langoustine salad, veal, mullet, sautéed langoustines, sponge cake, baked apple, hazel grouse, caviar, halibut fillet, veal fillet with extragon, mussels in saffron sauce – high-quality blanc de blancs.
Fried quail with herbs, pike, perch, veal glands with morels in pastry, scallop gratin, leg of lamb with young peas and artichokes, sea urchin, vol-au-vent (layer cake) with cockscomb sauce, sea fish, foie gras, baked perch, lobster - the best white bruts.
Meat carpaccio, cold game pie, cold partridge, grouse or woodcock, some dishes of Chinese and Indian cuisine - the best millesim bruts, white and rosé.
Tender fish, poultry, white meat, vegetables with creamy sauce - a rich millezim blank de noirs. Goat cheese, dishes with dark, moderately spicy sauces - millezim white and pink.
Sorbet, not very sweet desserts, cookies - non-millesim brut, light rose and semi-sweet champagne. Cookies and biscuits - semi-sweet and sweet champagne.
Blackbirds with sage, sautéed lamb cutlet, shrimp, eel, fish salad, sushi, smoked fish, mango, cod with potatoes - white millesime brut. Crepe suzette, meringue, mille-feuille, soufflé - sweet champagne.
The temperature at which you serve your wine is a very important factor that will determine whether you enjoy the wine or not. If you taste the same wine at different temperatures, you may find that you like it chilled or drink it well at room temperature.
The fact is that wine has a complex chemical structure, certain aromatic substances evaporate at different temperatures, which is why the serving temperature has a strong influence on the taste and aroma of the wine. The aroma of very chilled wines is practically not felt, and wines that are too warm can smell like alcohol.
Red wines that are chilled can taste sour and overly tannic, while white wines that are not chilled enough can become sluggish and slurred. Therefore, the serving temperature for each type of wine should be optimal.
The general rule is that cold increases the acidity of the wine, and heat increases the strength of the drink. The correct serving temperature does not make the wine better, but it does help it reach its full potential. At the same time, by cooling to the right temperature, sometimes very mediocre wine can be saved. If the wine has any defects that appear during tasting, try chilling it a little more than required for this type of wine. In most cases, the higher quality and more expensive the wine, the less time it needs to cool. This does not apply to champagne - this wine should always be served cold.
Briefly about serving temperature
- Most red wines are at their best when served at a serving temperature of 16-18°. This is the room temperature of ancient French castles. "Modern" room temperature - 20-22°C - is too high for any type of wine. Excessively warm red wine will amaze you with a strong alcoholic aroma, but 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator can work a real miracle with red wine. However, beware of red wine that is too chilled - it becomes sour and unpleasantly tannic.
- Light, young, fruity red wines, which include, for example, Beaujolais wines, are best served chilled to 14-15°C.
- The myth that red wines should be warm and white wines should be ice-cold gives rise to many mistakes. In the case of white wines, it is better to focus on the quality of the wine - the higher the quality of the wine, the less time it needs to be cooled, so that later you can fully experience its delicate aroma and rich flavor.
- If you're not sure how much to chill your wine, it's better to keep it cold than to warm it too much. Chilled wine heats up quickly, but too warm wine poured into glasses is almost impossible to cool.
- To determine the temperature of wine “by eye,” you can use the following rules: wine left at room temperature will have a temperature of about 18°C after 4 hours; wine left in the refrigerator for 4 hours will have a temperature of 4°C after this time.
Serving temperature for different types of wines:
- Champagne, sparkling wines – 7°
- Exclusive, vintage champagne (Veuve Clicquot, Dom Perignon, etc.) - 11°-12°C
- Inexpensive sweet wines – 10°-12.8°C
- Rose wines – 10°-12.8°C
- Simple, inexpensive white wines – 10°-12.8°C
- Noble dry white wines – 14°-16.5°C
- Famous sweet wines such as Sauternes and Barsac - 14°-16.5°C
- Young red wines with pronounced fruitiness (Beaujolais) - 14°-15.5°C
- Red wines – 16°-18°C
- Strong red wines (porto, marsala) - 16°-18°C
For true wine connoisseurs, we have prepared more detailed information that will help you determine the optimal wine serving temperature for a particular brand of wine.
At 18°C Australian Shiraz, Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, Rhone Valley wines, and vintage ports are served.
At 15°C French Côte Chalonnaise, young Zinfandel wines, pinot noir from Oregon (USA), cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir from New Zealand, Madeira are served.
12-13°C optimal for young Beaujolais, red Sancerre, Bardolino, young red Portuguese wine and most vin de pays (local wines of France).
10°C- Californian and Australian chardonnay, white wines of Burgundy, sweet wines of Germany, Rhine and Moselle Kabinett and Spätlese, Tokaj wines, oaked white wines of Italy and Rioja, white port.
