Open Champagne: how long it lasts and whether a spoon in the neck helps
Open Champagne sealed with a sparkling wine stopper and kept in the fridge will hold its bubbles for a day or two, then lose them quickly. A spoon in the neck of the bottle does not help: the Comité Champagne calls it a myth. The best way to avoid leftovers is a smaller bottle, a 0.375 l half-bottle or a 0.2 l bottle.
How long open Champagne lasts
Open Champagne sealed with a special sparkling wine stopper and kept in the fridge will hold its bubbles for a day or two, but they fade with every hour.
The Comité Champagne, the organisation that brings together growers and Champagne houses, has no illusions about it: an open bottle “will not last long”, and sealed with a special stopper it will survive a day or two. Once the cork is out, the carbon dioxide that has been dissolved in the wine for months under a pressure of about 6 bar starts to escape. The pressure in the bottle drops, the bubbles become fewer and larger, and the wine loses its freshness. The more wine left in the bottle and the sooner you seal it, the better.
In practice, Champagne opened in the evening is best finished the next day. After that it will still be wine, but increasingly like a still white wine.
How to store open Champagne
Seal open Champagne with a sparkling wine stopper and put it somewhere cool, ideally in the fridge.
This is the Comité Champagne's advice. Step by step:
- Seal the bottle straight after pouring, not after dinner. Every minute without a stopper means gas escaping.
- Use a sparkling wine stopper. It has clips that grip the collar of the neck and a seal, so it withstands the pressure of the gas still being released from the wine. Neither an ordinary wine stopper nor the original Champagne cork will do the job; once removed, the cork expands and will not go back in.
- Put the bottle in the fridge. In cold wine the gas stays dissolved for longer.
- The bottle can stand upright or lie on its side. The Comité Champagne says plainly that position makes no difference to the wine. Upright, however, it is less likely to leak.
Do not shake the bottle before pouring again. Open the stopper carefully, as a little pressure may have built up in the bottle again.
Does a spoon in a bottle of Champagne work
No. A spoon placed in the neck of an open bottle does not keep the bubbles in; according to the Comité Champagne it is a myth.
The myth of the spoon, ideally a silver one, handle down in the neck of the bottle, has been around for years. The Comité Champagne replies briefly that it is “not true at all” and advises using a special stopper instead. A spoon does not seal the bottle, so the gas escapes just as it would from an open neck. If Champagne with a spoon in it seems “quite all right” the next day, it is most likely because it stood in a cold fridge, and cold slows down the loss of gas.
Can open Champagne go off
Open Champagne does not go off overnight like food, but it loses its bubbles and, after a few days, its freshness too, because the wine oxidises in contact with air.
Champagne has about 12% alcohol. After opening, what changes above all is its taste: first the fizz goes, then the fruity freshness, and the wine turns flat and increasingly oxidised. Such Champagne no longer gives the pleasure you paid for, but you do not have to pour it away. It works well in the kitchen: in risotto, in a sauce for fish or seafood, in a fruit jelly. An unopened bottle is quite another matter: there you count years, not days, as we explain in the article does Champagne have an expiry date.
How to avoid leftovers: smaller bottles
The simplest way to avoid leftover Champagne is a smaller bottle: a 0.375 l half-bottle gives 3 glasses, and a 0.2 l bottle one large or two small ones.
The Comité Champagne recommends a half-bottle for a picnic and a standard bottle for a get-together with friends. At dinner for two, when nobody plans to drink four glasses, a half-bottle simply gets finished. A 0.75 l bottle gives 6-7 glasses of 110-125 ml, a half-bottle 3, and a small 0.2 l bottle one full glass or two smaller ones. In our shop you will find half-bottles of Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial (pronounced mo-et ay shon-don broot am-pay-ree-al) and Brut Classic from Deutz as well as a small bottle of Moët (pronounced mo-ET) 0.2 l. It is also the cheapest way to try Champagne from a great house.
| Format | Volume | Glasses of 110-125 ml | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small bottle | 0.2 l | 1-2 | for one person, as a gift |
| Half-bottle | 0.375 l | 3 | dinner for two, a picnic |
| Bottle | 0.75 l | 6-7 | a get-together for 4-6 people |
| Magnum | 1.5 l | 12-14 | a party, a toast |
How to serve Champagne so it does not go flat
You lose bubbles not only after opening but also when pouring. The Comité Champagne advises pouring in two stages, slowly, to two thirds of the glass, and chilling the bottle well, to 8-10 °C. Glasses should be clean and free of washing-up liquid residue, because detergent hinders the formation of bubbles. Details in the articles how to chill Champagne i the Champagne glass.
If you are looking for a bottle for one evening, in ranking of Champagnes under 250 zł you will find full bottles and half-bottles Moët & Chandon and other houses.
