Champagne is best when served chilled before opening. Although some advocate storing the bottle in the freezer for a faster chill, this is not recommended. Chilling your champagne kills the bubbles, which may affect its texture as well as the taste and texture. Vintage Champagne which comes with a label indicating years should be served a bit warmer at between 54 and 57 Fahrenheit.
Non-Vintage Champagne – no year printed – should ideally be chilled at 40-45 F if you want to bring out the best flavor. Colder temperatures are likely to stun your taste buds such that you may not get the true taste and flavor of your bubbly.
What Is A Better/Classic Way To Chill A Bottle Of Champagne?
The best way of chilling your Champagne is to use a bucket filled with one-third water and ice. Allow cooling for between 15 and 20 minutes. If you are not set for cork-popping yet, consider strong your bottle in a cool location with consistent temperature and low light. A wine rack will do perfectly.
If you have a Magnum, give it about 25 minutes. If you intend to enjoy your bubbly within 3 to 4 days from the purchase date, you may keep it in the refrigerator. However, if kept for too long, your Champagne will begin to change for the worse.
Most Desired Temperature For Chilling Champagne?
Compared to other wines, Champagne is more temperature and light sensitive. That why it’s typically bottled in a dark-green, light-resistant glass. Vintage champagne should ideally be served chilled between 54 and 57 degrees Fahrenheit while non-vintage should be chilled at 40-45 degrees.
This level of temperature is best achieved when you use an ice bucket as it is usually slightly warmer than what a fridge can give you. The greatest benefit of using an ice bucket is because it not only gradually brings the right temperature to your wine but also keeps it there. The contents can stay at the right temperature from between 2.5 to nearly 3 hours. But remember to keep the ice bucket topped up with fresh ice.
How Should Champagne Be Served?
Champagne is best served when chilled. Once the wine has been chilled for between 15 to 20 minutes, it should be poured onto the side of your glass and not directly onto the glass base. Wait till the bubbles have subsided and then continue to pour to the desired glass level. This could take anything between 4 to 5 pauses when you want to fill a flute shaped Champagne glass.
As you remove the bottle, twist it from the side of the glass in order to remove any remaining wine on the bottle’s edge. Though champagne should be drunk cold, you should never serve it over ice. This adversely affects the taste as well as the smell.
Conclusion
If you are lucky to have your own underground wine cellar capable of maintaining a constant 10-11°C temperature, then you could dispense with having to use a bucket of ice altogether. However, that may not please you if you love your Champagne super cold. The bottom line is that Champagne is best served when chilled.
Ema is the “winer” behind this and most blog posts on xogwine.com. Believe it or not, writing about wine is not as easy as drinking wine. Ema has been doing it for so long (writing), it has become a passion for her. This is how xogwine.com was born.
