Guidelines for storing Champagne

Storing Champagne

Cool and constant Temperature

50 TO 59°F 10 TO 15°C

AVOID RAPID CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE

High temperatures speed up the ageing process and damage the quality of the wine. Cold temperatures slow down the development of the wine and prevent it from taking on more complexity.

Darkness

DO NOT EXPOSE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES TO LIGHT

Light can damage the wine.

Champagne is a wine, which is particularly sensitive to strong light. It can be old and stale before time or unpleasant flavours can develop if kept for quite a period under natural sunshine or artificial light. Transparent glass bottles must be especially well protected

Humidity

ABOVE 70%

Preserves the qualities of the cork (flexibility, density). Very low humidity and high temperatures can dry out the cork and cause rapid transformation in the wine.

Pressurised bottle

AVOID SHOCKS

Handle with care.

There are 6 bars of pressure inside the bottle, i.e. three times the pressure in a car tyre.

Duration

CHAMPAGNE DEVELOPS IN ITS BOTTLE

Champagne evolves over time. In addition to storage conditions, which have a direct impact on the quality of the wine and how it develops, the blends (vintage) it contains, as well as the size of the bottle also determine how the champagne develops as time goes by. The cellaring time for vintage champagnes is longer. They may be opened between 7 and 10 years after purchase, or even later than that. All the bottles of champagne that we sell have been aged in our cellars and they can be opened as soon as they are purchased. Keeping bottles longer may bring about changes in taste (more pronounced), colour (darker) and effervescence (less).

Opening

Glass

Temperature

Opening the Bottle

Step 1: Remove the foil and loosen the wire cage.

Step 2: Tilt the bottle at an angle about 45°. Avoid pointing the cork towards your guests.

Step 3: With the cork still firmly kept in place, hold the body of the bottle with your other hand and turn it gently to release the cork from the neck, turn the bottle not the cork, hold it and let it slowly out of the bottle making sure it doesn’t pop