Beware the Flying Corks

Normally I do not add a second topic on these blogs, but since we did not get to this section either week we did our sparklers I thought I’d add it as a public service for all those brave souls popping the bubbly.

Opening Champagne Safely

Optomologists will tell you the most common eye injury from a flying object is, you guessed it, Champagne corks. This would apply to any bubbly using the traditional method, with its attendant higher pressure. The Charmat or bulk process with it lower pressure is not as challenging.

Recently, I was opening a sparkling wine and our good friend, Claudia, was trying to duck below the table. She related that when she was young her father opened a bottle and the cork shot through their ceiling and ended up lodged in the attic. A rather frightening introduction to champagne.

I told her I was a professional and that just wasn’t going to happen. Besides we were outside and only a low flying bird was at risk.

So bearing that in mind, don’t point the cork end at anyone; particularly the eye area, although crotch level is also not so good. Try pointing it at a vacant wall if this is your first time, and avoid chandeliers. And you thought this was just simply opening a bottle of wine. Au contraire.

Preparing and opening the bubbly: Here is your uncorking sparklers refresher.

• NV Champagne can age up to 3 years after release, cuvée de prestige much longer
• If storing for more than one month, keep sparklers horizontal in the rack
• Start with a well-chilled bottle, not one rolling around the back seat of your car for the last hour.
• Holding bottle at 45 degrees loosen the wire cage, 6 turns if you’re counting, but leave the cage on
• Hold cork and cage firmly, turn the base of the bottle, not the cork
• Allow cork to slowly ease out but keep at 45 degrees for a few seconds after cork removed
• If done successfully only a tiny hiss should occur. We professionals have a technical term for this; the queen passing gas.
• Make sure flutes are handy if it foams and pour into glasses at 45 degrees to fill more quickly
• One can pour from the bottle by placing thumb in punt (indentation at base of bottle), less warming by hand, but more dangerous. Don’t try this with a Nebuchadnezzar bottle (18 liters, equivalent to 20 bottles).

Flutes versus coupé

In the 30s, 40s and 50s, the coupé was the more common glass to serve Champagne. The classic shape is reputed to have been formed from Marie Antoinette’s left breast. While the apocryphal story has a romantic ring, it’s hard to imagine this actually happening. “Excuse me, Marie, but can we borrow your breast to make some glasses?”

The advantage of the flute is that the tiny bubbles are on full display adding to the attraction of a classic sparkler. And unlike the Marie Antoinette coupé it does not lose its head quite so quickly and you don’t have to have it with cake.