How do you keep your champagne?

Champagne is a living thing and can change over time. The way it is stored has a direct impact on the preservation of its aromas, enabling it to be enjoyed several months or years later. The Champagne Houses are constantly working on new materials and new bottle formats to enable their champagnes to stand the test of time while retaining their qualities. The cork stopper is one of the key components in the ageing of a bottle. Over time, it loses its hermeticity and gradually lets air through. It is particularly sensitive to its environment. A bright, hot, dry environment should be avoided when storing your champagne, as this could accelerate the ageing process and reduce its quality, taste and effervescence. Keep your champagne away from light, vibrations and wide variations in temperature, at around 15°C. These conditions help to preserve the hermeticity of the cork for as long as possible. The long period of ageing on the lees given to our bottles means that they can be enjoyed straight away. Be careful when handling a bottle of champagne. We advise you not to shake it or shake it too much. For optimum enjoyment, there are three steps to opening a bottle: First, take the bottle out of the fridge – it may have been stored upright or horizontally – when it is cold, between 8 and 10°C for a brut and 10 and 12°C for a vintage. Tilt the bottle, remove the cap and keep the cork under pressure. Finally, gently turn the bottle on itself to allow the cork to come out, while keeping it under pressure. In the past, bottles of champagne were much more heavily dosed than they are now. The American taste, over 100g of sugar/litre, was the norm last century. Today, the average is less than 12g sugar/litre. However, sugar helps to preserve the taste of champagne over several decades. With this drop in sugar content, the challenge of preserving bottles over time is a real one.