How to Serve Champagne

The pop of a champagne bottle sounds like celebration. Weddings, promotions, an informal brunch, and many other occasions can begin with a sparkling bit of light wine. And if you're going to celebrate, you should do it right; but what exactly does doing it right mean? We'll go through the origins of champagne and teach you the best way to appreciate this effervescent tradition.

What Is Champagne?

Champagne is a type of sparkling (carbonated) wine that comes from the Champagne region of France.¹ Champagne ranges from sweet to very dry and is usually white, with an ABV around 12 percent. Any wine that matches these qualities but doesn't come from Champagne, France, is usually called sparkling wine instead, though many consumers refer to any sparkling white wine as champagne. Champagne is naturally carbonated during the fermentation process as yeast produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct of fermenting,² but capturing these bubbles and creating a true sparkling wine took centuries of practice.

The History of Champagne

After the Romans brought wine to the proto-French Gauls, wine became a staple of the region through all the twists and turns of history. The story of champagne, though, begins with the apocryphal story of Dom Pérignon, a monk in northern France who discovered a way to create wine that was carbonated, free of debris, and didn't explode the bottles in which it aged. Dom Pérignon supposedly introduced several changes to wine-making, including:²

• Importing thicker English glass, which reduced how often bottles burst from internal pressure created by fermentation.
• Using black grapes but removed the skins to produce a clearer white wine.
• Blending different types of grapes for consistent quality.
• Using cork instead of hemp plugs to better contain carbon dioxide.

How to Open and Serve Champagne

Opening champagne is a unique practice. Not many people are afraid to crack a can of soda or uncork still wine, but popping champagne can be intimidating. The cork is under tremendous pressure from the expansion of the carbonated drink, so removing it quickly can not only launch it but lead to the wine spraying. Instead of leveraging the cork free and aiming it somewhere safe, place a rag over the cork as you work it free. When you begin to pour, do so slowly and let the bubbles dissipate between pours to avoid any overflow.

Proper Champagne Temperature

Champagne should be served between 47 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit.³ Any colder than that and the temperature could numb taste buds and dampen the flavor profile. Any warmer and you'll lose some of its clarity and sparkle. If you're in a hurry and must bring a bottle down to temperature quickly, place your bottle in an ice bucket with an even ice-to-water ratio. Also, don't use prechilled glasses or you'll lose some of the sparkle.

Proper Champagne Stemware

There are many potential options when it comes to champagne stemware but the flute, tulip, and – in some cases – coupe glasses are often used for champagne.

Champagne Flute

Tulip Champagne Glass

Champagne Coupe

Champagne flutes are designed with a long stem and an elongated, narrow bowl. This design is key to maintaining the signature bubbles in the champagne. When the surface area of the liquid is reduced, the bubbles dissipate more slowly. The long stem also keeps the drinker from warming the liquid while enjoying it. This is your go-to champagne serving vessel.

Tulip champagne glasses are similar to flutes but have one distinct difference in the bowl's shape. Glass height helps maintain the bubbles, but the midpoint of the bowl bells out wider than the rim. This enables proper swirling and enjoyment of the wine's aroma without compromising its carbonation. This version of stemware is ideal in case you wish to discern the delicate aromas of a certain vintage.

The champagne coupe, also known as the champagne saucer, is a shallow vessel no longer commonly used for enjoying modern champagnes. Popular in the 1930s through the 1960s, the coupe was used to serve sweeter, bolder champagnes. Today, the glass is viewed as inferior to the flute or tulip because of its broad-bowl design, which contributes to a rapid loss of carbonation. Coupe glasses enable more of the aromatics to circulate, so if you care more for the bouquet than the carbonation, consider coupe glasses.⁴

References

1. What Is Champagne? The Spruce Eats. Accessed February 2022.
2. The History of Champagne. World History. Accessed February 2022.
3. Champagne Is Best Served Cold. Champagne. Accessed February 2022.
4. Flute vs Coupe. Glass of Bubbly. Accessed February 2022.