www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10953131
I checked carefully and it's not Dr Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker (Muppet Labs, bringing you the future today). It's a hard life being a scientist. I reckon they were having a party, got caught and made up a story.
JH
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It's just obvious that it should be poured gently to preserve the effervescence. I like to open the bottles with a discreet hiss too, or better still in total silence. When there's an accidental pop and someone cheers or gives a little screamette, I want to kill them. It's the same when people over the age of 12 go ooh and aaah very loudly during firework displays.
What happened to the discreet murmur or chortle of approval? Why do people think it's cool to make a hysterical clamour about practically nothing?
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I too open my bottles with a hiss, and no pop or flying corks. Pour gently into each flute, 1/2 full let the bubbles form, then gently subside. Top each glass when the bubbles have subsided.
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I was always told that a bottle should "open with a sexual sigh"
I have a Champagne cork extractor that makes things a lot easier and gives total control :-)
Love this site
www.bullworks.net/daily/20070812.htm
My model is just like the one from Franmara: "Attractively designed silver plated tool gives a positive grip for champagne cork removal."
Mine is chrome and cost 50p when they were getting rid of them in Sainsburys. The only alcohol that SWMBO can drink ( for medical reasons) is Champagne, Cava or similar made the traditional method so my cork extractor gets well used.
To quote the site - An Alternative
Want to get the Champagne cork out clean and quick?
Instead of grips just whack it off with a Champagne Sword.
"The French Cavalry would ride into battle with a bottle of Champagne to be enjoyed before the battle as a form of Dutch courage. The Cavalryman would draw his sword and with a deft flick of the wrist cut the neck of the bottle clean open. The cork, cage and bottle neck all come away as one piece and the exploding pressure of the Champagne forces away any shards of glass. A truly amazing sight to see to this day at Champagne houses as the cork flies a huge distance and the spray is very impressive. This does take some practice and safety should be the first concern - whilst not razor sharp these swords can still remove finger tips and more!
These are available - This Champagne Sabre (use of which is known as Sabrage) has its own stone display stand."
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Can't say I like the stuff meself. We ended up with about 15 bottles, some very good stuff apparently, after our Ruby wedding last year. Still got most of it. It's not the sort of stuff we Northerners drink with our tripe and onion dinners. Had a nice cold bottle of Dragonfire with me tea tonight though.
Like AC, I abhor the un-gentlefolkly manner of overexcitedness about nothing.
I saw the end of some rubbish programme about buying and selling tat whilst waiting for the 1pm news. People were in raptures because they'd bought some bit of junk and re-sold it for a couple of quid profit. I'd have chucked it in the bin !
I went out after the news and treated myself to a circular train and tram trip round South Manchester....all free on my bus pass !
Ted
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>> Still got most of it. It's not the sort of stuff we Northerners drink
I'm only an honorary northerner, but a good Champagne is a favourite.
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>>Still got most of it. It's not the sort of stuff we Northerners drink>>
Well I am a Northerner and more of us drink champagne that you obviously think...:-)
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>I like to open the bottles with a discreet hiss too, or better still in total silence.
Straight from the bucket/fridge, hold the cork twist the bottle. Easy.
Mrs. K and I shared a lovely bottle of NV Bollinger a couple of weekends ago cooking scallops and prawns over the table firepit.
Recommended:
www.marksandspencer.com/Mosaic-Fire-Pit/dp/B0011ZXURI?extid=TP_2_FRO_T_MSF_
Kevin...
PS. Where do I sign up for the Margarita Research Group?
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To be honest, I'm not very big on any kind of alcohol. I practised hard to develop a taste for it for many years but can't really say it ever thrilled me. Mostly now I don't bother other than maybe a very occasional cold beer at the end of a hot physical day or a warming tot of Scotch and the end of a cold physical day but I've known to go two years between such events !
Champagne was and is a drink I have always found particularly over-rated. Memories from childhood of family "dos" with adults standing around affecting delight at the ceremony of drinking what to me is a fairly noxious liquid still haunt and taint my view of the stuff.
Like Ted and co we have on various "special" occasions been given copious quantities of champagne of various quality and have always felt unable to refuse it on grounds of courtesy but there it sits in some unattended corner of the understairs cupboard, ready to be given unopened to whoever we need to provide a gift to at some other celebration.
On our honeymoon, we took the Westfield on a tour of France and stayed in various Chateaux style hotels, one of which was in the Champagne region. They tried to force the gassy brew down us on our arrival which we naturally pretended to accept with pleasure but most of it went in the potted plants in reception !
To lurch back to the question asked though, I have indeed opened many a bottle of the stuff on behalf of others and share the view that it is best done discreetly with much the same decorum which should be applied to any expulsion of gas in public. A near silent hiss being the only polite option......
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Not sure what they think is newsworthy about this announcement. It's obvious to any fule that when poured down the (in!)side of the glass the bubbles released are fewer.
I'd always thought that it is beer that is poured like champagne...
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Second vote for hold the cork, twist the bottle. No drama.
If there's accidentally too much fizz when pouring, place finger or thumb over the edge of the glass to make it subside.
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Someone told me that it's "dirt" in the glass which makes it bubble up...
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SWMBO drinks Cava at under2 € a bottle, from LIDL.
(So do a lot of our friends!)
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I am a huge fan of Lidl's Prosecco (the one with the orange label). Or at least, I was when it was £3.50 - and even tastier when on offer at £2.50. Sadly, our currency crash (the pound in your pocket..?!) pushed it up to £5 since when it has not tasted anything like as good.
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Yes, her indoors has a taste for Prosecco. She developed that pouring Belinis down her throat at Harry's bar in Venice. €20 a pop I think they were!
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Mrs APM is a big fan of champagne as well as good quality prosecco and cava (favourite is Louis Roderer or Veuve Cliquot). I'm more of a grain chap to be honest, good ale and fine malt float my boat. That said, I can appreciate a decent drop of the fizz. For those interested, majestic have some good deals on at the moment for various kinds of fizzy. For those more of my ilk, you can get some very good deals on cases of beer, with discounts for multiple purchase. I can particularly recommend the Sharp's single reserve. Lovely!
Alex.
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And if you want to drink champagne in London (at eye-watering prices), try Vertigo 42, top of Tower 42 (ex NatWest tower); stunning views across London.
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Hilaire Belloc's slightly tongue in cheek recommended way of opening the bottle was to cut the protruding cork off flush and then use an ordinary corkscrew.
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I vaguely remember a feature on Blue Peter in which John Noakes was a waiter at a 'top hotel' for a day.
The method was simple - wrap the top of the bottle in a tea towel and ease the cork out with thumb and forefinger.
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Indeed - and it was written up in one of the Blue Peter annuals - number 4 or 5 I think - I'll have to wait until I get home to check...
Running your finger around the rim of the glass stops the fizz from frothing over the top. (Best not to let the guests see you do it.)
Champagne served at altitude gets you drunk more quickly - e.g. first class on BA. Not from personal experience - I don't drink. (Or fly first class come to that...)
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"Champagne served at altitude gets you drunk more quickly"
Isn't that because more gets drunk because it's usually free? Certainly was on my commutes to Glasgow some years back :-)
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 15 Aug 10 at 12:34
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>> "Champagne served at altitude gets you drunk more quickly"
>>
>> >>
Probably true. I heard an anecdote from someone who opened a bag of crisps while climbing high up in the Himalayas. It exploded.
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..."Champagne served at altitude gets you drunk more quickly...
Probably not, according to American research quoted here:
www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/health/02real.html
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I will refer SWMBO to that useful report :-)
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>> The method was simple - wrap the top of the bottle in a tea towel
>> and ease the cork out with thumb and forefinger.
That's the way I've always opened it and I have always poured it like beer, this being a task that falls to me when we have dinner with the inlaws. Never did like champagne or white wine for that matter but non of the inlaws drink red wine and the only beer they ever have is stella or supermarket own brand lager, makes me glad I usually have to drive.
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If you don't like champagne, a decent Cremant de Bourgogne is very often better than ordinary champagne. To be sure of nice champagne you have to pay an absurd price. The product does vary quite a bit over time. Something budget priced from a small maker can be exquisite one year and disappointing the next. The annoying thing is that unless you are a serious wine taster you never quite know whether the difference is in you or the wine.
I often wonder how experts separate their subjective state from the objective quality of the wine. Completely arbitrarily, backed up with floods of poncy bluster, I sometimes think when my liver is acting up.
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How to pour champagne - Armel Coussine
