Decanting champagne

[John_Kight]

if there’s a concern regarding loss of bubbles while decanting then best to have the sparkler very cold. Cold liquids hold more dissolved gas.

BTW - I’ve left open, uncorked, sparklers in the refrigerator overnight and the wine still had bubbles the next morning. If you put a stopper in it then you’re guaranteed to have them. I’ve also poured champagne straight from a just opened bottle into a glass and within a few minutes it was basically still.

I almost always just leave sparklers in the fridge overnight and they always have bubbles the next day. Just had an opened bottle of 2018 Raventos i Blanc Blanc de Blanc that had been opened 2 days before and, afer drinking it some one both days, it back in the fridge with under 1/3 of the bottle remaining. I was starting to pour it out on day 3, but took a sip first and discovered that it not only retained bubbles, it basically retained ALL of its bubbles. That was an atypical experience, but at least for the next day, I always have bubbles remaining (though somewhat diminished)…

Based on my own experience, I’m not convinced that putting a cork back in the bottle makes any material difference at all, at least on the day after…beyond depriving you of the second round of a popping sound on subsequent evenings. However, it may be useful for those trying to preserve the bubbles for several days rather than just the day after.

[HoosJustinG]

Another pro-decant vote for me on younger champagne. Otherwise the mouthfeel is just too aggressive to discern what I’m drinking.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

I confess to being confused by the notion of leftover champagne.

I never decant champagne by design beforehand. I’d much rather open and have the experience of the bubbles at their various stages of air exposure. Only once or twice has a champagne showed so tight in a vinious sense, not an aggressive bubbles sense, that I’ve decided to decant it. One was a young bottle of Egly-Ouriet VP, which is a massive champagne.

[DougS]

I agree with others – young Champagne is often too effervescent or more effervescent than it needs to be, so I’m not concerned about that when decanting. Also, I think there’s so much more to great Champagne than the bubbles, and I’m more concerned with the wine showing well /opening up than having the full amount of bubbles.

A little thread drift, but since people have brought up the strength of the bubbles, does anyone know of producers other than Roger Coulon that bottle their Champagne with less atmospheres?

Cédric Bouchard, for sure.

Yes, and he recommends decanting his wines.

[DougS]

Champagne is never too effervescent for me. I never decant, any more than I’d order a vindaloo “but no spice please.” If I didn’t like the bubbles, I’d open a burgundy.

While it seems incorrect-bordering-on-bizarre to try to de-bubble champagne, I am 100% in the let a thousand flowers bloom camp. Knock yourself out with that.

Does aging Champagne to the point that it’s mature also seem incorrect? Mature Champagne seems generally less bubbly than young, properly decanted Champagne.

[Neal.Mollen]

Champagne is never too effervescent for me. I never decant, any more than I’d order a vindaloo “but no spice please.” If I didn’t like the bubbles, I’d open a burgundy.

While it seems incorrect-bordering-on-bizarre to try to de-bubble champagne, I am 100% in the let a thousand flowers bloom camp. Knock yourself out with that.

Does aging Champagne to the point that it’s mature also seem incorrect? Mature Champagne seems generally less bubbly than young, properly decanted Champagne.

Not at all, but if I could get the flavors of an aged champagne and the effervescence I would.

[DougS]

Champagne is never too effervescent for me. I never decant, any more than I’d order a vindaloo “but no spice please.” If I didn’t like the bubbles, I’d open a burgundy.

While it seems incorrect-bordering-on-bizarre to try to de-bubble champagne, I am 100% in the let a thousand flowers bloom camp. Knock yourself out with that.

Does aging Champagne to the point that it’s mature also seem incorrect? Mature Champagne seems generally less bubbly than young, properly decanted Champagne.

Not at all, but if I could get the flavors of an aged champagne and the effervescence I would.

Fair enough.

[ybarselah]

your glass has a greater impact on bubbles than w/r/t still wines… keep that in mind when discussing relative effervescence (“RE”)

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/bubbles-and-flow-patterns-in-champagne

[Barry_Sunderland]

Generally, I find DAY 2 Champagne more open and fresh than DAY 1.
A stopper and the fridge needed, and 24 hours later…

[Justin_S1]

Champagne is never too effervescent for me. I never decant, any more than I’d order a vindaloo “but no spice please.” If I didn’t like the bubbles, I’d open a burgundy.

While it seems incorrect-bordering-on-bizarre to try to de-bubble champagne, I am 100% in the let a thousand flowers bloom camp. Knock yourself out with that.

I like bubbles but there are some young champagnes that I need to aggressively swirl in my glass to get rid of some bubbles before the wine has a good balance. Young NV Savart L’Accomplie is a prime example. The acid and bubbles are frankly aggressive on PnP. But I wouldn’t drink it flat.

Cedric Bouchard…no need, it’s already at lower pressure right out of the bottle.

[Blake_Brown]

Generally, I find DAY 2 Champagne more open and fresh than DAY 1.
A stopper and the fridge needed, and 24 hours later…

This is a really great read and scientifically addresses much of what the intent of this thread was.

[Marcus_Dean]

I decant most Champagne especially Cedric Bouchard’s wines, if there is some left in the decanter when we move on to the next wine then so be it.

[Brad_England]

In spirit yes, in practice no. For me there’s no question that champagne opened for a couple hours or left in the glass over lunch/dinner can and frequently does improve. But I’ve generally felt that actual decanting isn’t the same and is overdoing it. These comments relate to older well stored champagne (60’s, 70’s and 80’s). PS - fun topic.

[Kirk.Grant]

Champagne is never too effervescent for me. I never decant, any more than I’d order a vindaloo “but no spice please.” If I didn’t like the bubbles, I’d open a burgundy.

While it seems incorrect-bordering-on-bizarre to try to de-bubble champagne, I am 100% in the let a thousand flowers bloom camp. Knock yourself out with that.

Does aging Champagne to the point that it’s mature also seem incorrect? Mature Champagne seems generally less bubbly than young, properly decanted Champagne.

Not at all, but if I could get the flavors of an aged champagne and the effervescence I would.

You need one of those fancy soda makers!!

[William_Kelley]

I agree with others – young Champagne is often too effervescent or more effervescent than it needs to be, so I’m not concerned about that when decanting. Also, I think there’s so much more to great Champagne than the bubbles, and I’m more concerned with the wine showing well /opening up than having the full amount of bubbles.

A little thread drift, but since people have brought up the strength of the bubbles, does anyone know of producers other than Roger Coulon that bottle their Champagne with less atmospheres?

Cédric Bouchard, for sure.

Yes, and he recommends decanting his wines.

Supposedly—but I have never seen him do it.

[William_Kelley]

A little thread drift, but since people have brought up the strength of the bubbles, does anyone know of producers other than Roger Coulon that bottle their Champagne with less atmospheres?

Lilbert-Fils Perle

There are plenty, and even Roederer is playing with it. Mumm de Cramant has been around for a long time too.

The combination of crown cap plus Mytik, which is increasingly common in Champagne, also means that wines loose less gas during their elaboration, so it makes sense to tone things down a touch.

[David_Bu3ker]

Generally, I find DAY 2 Champagne more open and fresh than DAY 1.
A stopper and the fridge needed, and 24 hours later…

This is a really great read and scientifically addresses much of what the intent of this thread was.

I find it to be exactly the opposite, with day 2 Champagne (when it happens - rare) being darker and more wine-y. I still like it, but it’s never, ever as fresh to my palate.

[William_Kelley]

In response to the question to William if he ever decants champagne: "You know, I confess that I don’t.

I do think that, between crown caps and increasing use of technical closures, contemporary Champagne can be too frothy: making it the old fashioned way, you start with six bars and you might end up at five or four and a half; with modern crown caps and technical closures and disgorgement practices you keep a lot more. So I can understand why one might want to give a Champagne a quick decant just to de-gas it a bit. Similarly to open up a tight young wine. But you clearly loose things in decanting Champagne for whatever you gain, so I would prefer just to cellar such wines for a few more years."

Not sure I have too much to add to this.

Champagne is so much less structured than serious white Burgundy (despite the “Montrachet with bubbles” line that writers tend to pull out whenever they like a Champagne—they need to drink more Montrachet!) and seldom as reductive that I am not sure how much opening up decanting can really achieve. I think what often happens is that you loose a bit of gas (not a bad thing) and also warm the wine up very quickly. Since most Champagne is served too cold (I had to start specifying that I didn’t want to taste frosted wines when I visited the grandes marques for the first time), this is very beneficial. Decanting is also something of an acid test for the quality of a Champagne, as if it is bad, when it gets warmer and less gassy, the faults have nowhere to hide. But, it isn’t something I do at home, as I don’t drink very young wines, and I don’t serve them very cold.

[David_Bu3ker]

But, it isn’t something I do at home, as I don’t drink very young wines, and I don’t serve them very cold.

This resonates for me. We do drink younger wines when trying new things, but for the most part we prefer NVs with several (or more) years of post-disgorgement age, and vintage wines with significant time in the cellar.

[Cris_Whetstone]

I wish I knew where the concern over bubbles dissipating comes from. I always assume its from our younger years drinking crap sparkling wine and have some bottle go flat quickly. Those plonk sparklers with injected bubbles of course.

I’ve never had a bottle on young, actual, Champagne go flat. I just leave them open in the fridge over night now and the bubbles are just as strong on night two. Night three you see some fading.

If your plan is to drink a bottle of young Champagne that night I can’t imagine how a decant will affect the bubbles.

The bubbles are not fragile.