Elizabeth Liemandt
Just in time for New Year’s Eve, a study has been released on the importance of chilling and pouring champagne to get the most bubbles from your bubbly.
My guess is that most of you have not had a chance to read the article in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, and seeing as New Year’s Eve is less than 36 hours away, I will sum it up so you too can be a pouring professional and impress your friends and family.
Titled “On the Losses of Dissolved CO2 during Champagne Serving” and written by six French scientists whose names I will not even attempt to pronounce, this is not your typical morning read over coffee. The 7-page study is reminiscent of a chemistry textbook with one glaring difference. I don’t remember studying champagne in any of my high school or college science classes. (If we had, maybe I would have done a little better!)
As I read through the 90 references to CO2 molecules, studied the eight charts and figures and tried to comprehend the meaning of “progressive desorption of dissolved gas species from the free surface of a supersaturated liquid medium”, I was a bit confused, to say the least. Thankfully, my mother writes science curriculum (and also enjoys a glass or two of champagne), so I made a call to the professional. Apparently, it means “continuous bubbles”.
The short story: champagne, sparkling wines, ciders, beers, sodas and fizzy waters served at 39 degrees Fahrenheit and poured at an angle into the glass will preserve the taste, aroma and mouth-feel of these bubbly beverages. So chill a bottle of bubbly (we recommend the NV Moscato) at 39 degrees Farenheit, serve with a sensational meal and astonish your friends with your knowledge of New Year’s most popular drink!
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