Champagne Pouring/Serving Temperature

So I asked my local retail wine store sales guy about serving/pouring temperature for champagne.

He said that young champagne should be put in a regular kitchen fridge to cool , and popped/poured/served at kitchen refrigerator temperature.

And older/aged champagne should be put in a regular kitchen fridge to cool, and then taken out of fridge for 5 minutes , and then popped/poured/

Very much a personal preference. Both of those suggestions are too cold for me.

Thanks . I did leave out the part to ask people their opinions .

I’m a white Burgundy kinda guy - 12ish degrees C, so basically cellar temp.

Yeah. The White Burg mention is probably good. There is some variability for quality and age. Just remember that you might have some top end Pinot and Chard in that bottle. Serve those too cold and you restrict the expression. For cheap sparkling that’s good. For the good stuff you might miss something.

Sparklers are the one category of wines that I like to start with at refrigerator temperature and let warm a little in the glass as I drink.

I pour at fridge temp and follow it as it warms up in the glass over time.

While it can depend on how quickly the wine will be consumed after serving and the glassware used, in general, with any Champagne that is from the 2000s or even 1990s, you are not going to go wrong pouring at refrigerator temperature. My personal preference would be to let any well chilled bottle warm up for 10-15 minutes before serving, but that isn’t always possible. As Brian and Michael pointed out above, the wine will warm in the glass (and breathe). It is fascinating to watch many Champagnes transform as they warm up and this can happen rather quickly (some for the better and some for the worse ).

There are times where pulling the bottle from cooling, letting it sit a few minutes, and then doing flash decant can do wonders, but it all really depends on the situation, food matching, wine style, wine flight timing, etc… As for older Champagnes (and I know old is relative) I wouldn’t be putting a major chill on anything with serious age. If you have a bottle that has spent decades aging at temperatures in the 50s, you can shock the bottle in a bad way with a big chill. IMO, older Champagnes (pre-1990) should not be chilled down lower than 47-50 deg F. It isn’t worth the risk of possible shock. Not saying it will happen, but it can and the older the bottle, the greater the chance.

*Edited for grammar mistakes

I’d imagine most refrigerators are 35-38 degrees, which is way too cold for enjoyment of any wine. Many people chill them down far too cold. As others have mentioned, the “ideal” can vary a little bit depending on quality and style, but most are best around 50-55 degrees.

Also, Champagne goes down like water for me for the most part because it’s so delicious so I don’t want to wait for it to warm up.

Generally, I take it from the wine fridge at 12 degrees and put it into the normal fridge for 10-15 min before opening.

I pop at fridge temp and pour just over, then let it breathe and warm up over the evening. If I try to pop at cellar temp it goes all over the place.

I have a under counter champagne fridge in the kitchen that’s set to 47F, problem solved.

I am right with Brad Baker on this - I chill most champagne, save very old bottles, to refrigerator temp, then take out 10-15 before popping. But if I forget, which I sometimes do, I pop straight from the fridge and let it warm in the glass, which I find happens pretty quickly.

Depending on consumption rate, I may even put the bottle back in the fridge for a few minutes. I find carbonated beverages, champagne in particular, unpleasant as they approach room temperature, from both a taste and texture perspective.

I keep my champagnes for drinking at 46 degrees and i find that just perfect.YMMV

You can’t go wrong with Sarah’s or Brad’s advice, but I serve them at cellar temperature or a few degrees colder (five minutes in the fridge). After a short time, I decide whether to put a chiller around them or let them warm further. When drinking in restaurants or friends’ houses (that so 2019!), they’re often served too cold for my taste.

Cheers,
Warren

With how much champs you and Blake brown drink I’m surprised you don’t have dedicated champagne fridges too.

Epic idea. I’m getting one on order after the holidays.