You may have wondered what the best way to open a bottle of sparkling wine is. Over the years I have seen many people pop the cork and shoot 1/3 of the bottle of wine across the room. This is not my recommended method of opening a bottle. For one thing it is dangerous. I once heard a statistic that 5 people a year lose their sight from being hit in the eye by a flying sparkling wine cork. I do not have the source of this, and it could be an old wives tale. However, the fear of eye damage is enough for me to open a bottle of bubbles a little differently. The other reason not to open the bottle like that is a little more practical – why waste so much wine if you do not have to?
This post is referring to opening a bottle of sparkling wine that has a cork and a wire cage. If you are opening a can, or a screw cap, or a crown cap then those are a little different.
To begin, just in case of an accident aim the bottle away from friends and family. An unopened bottle has a large amount of pressure. To give you a frame of reference for how much pressure is in a bottle of wine it is at least double the pressure found in a standard car tire. (Car tires are +/- 35psi and a bottle of sparkling wine is +/-75psi).
Have the wine chilled to the desired serving temperature for sparkling wine so 40°-50°F. Opening a chilled bottle will reduce the likelihood of losing control of the cork, and having large losses due to gushing.
Next you will remove the foil. There is usually a tab that you can pull to remove the foil. Sometimes it can be hard to find the tab so if necessary just remove the entire foil. The only purpose of the foil is aesthetics so you can find sparkling wine for sale that does not have a foil.
Next there will be the wire cage. There should be a loop of wire that you can bend down and twist to loosen. The key word here is loosen. You do not want to remove the cage completely. (Fun fact, the standard packaging method for sparkling wine give the loop 5-6 full turns.) At this stage the cork is no longer secured in the bottle and it could potentially pop out. With this in mind keep a hand with slight pressure on the top of the cage to keep the cork from escaping. You can quickly put a towel over the cage/cork at this point if you desire – just incase there is some gushing. Make sure that there is only a brief period of time where the cork/cage are not being secured by your hand if you do decide to use a towel.
Now for the cork removal. With the cage still in place, firmly grip the cork with one hand and the bottle with the other. (The of the cage as tire chains on tires. The cage will help you keep a grip on the cork as you open the bottle.) You can twist the cork, and hold the bottle still, or twist the bottle and hold the cork still. This is personal preference. While twisting you want to maintain a constant pressure on the cork. You want to remove it in a controlled way. Once it has loosened you will start to feel it being pushed out by the pressure from inside the bottle. This is when you want to make sure you hold the counter pressure on the cork to keep it from flying out.
The goal is to maintain the pressure until the cork comes out on its own. As the cork pushes completely out of the bottle you should hear a small release of gas. It is a similar sound to when you open a can of carbonated beverage. Just a quick pffffft sound. Now you can set the cork aside and serve the bubbles.
Another fun fact, sparkling wine corks start off in the same shape as standard wine corks – they are cylinders. They are thicker around than still wine corks. All wine corks are compressed before being inserted into the bottles. Sparkling wine corks are just under greater pressure to get them to fit in the neck of the bottle. These sparkling wine corks fit part of the way into the bottle and then the wire cages is put on to hold the cork in place. The top is able to expand to fit the inside of the wire cage. Because the rest of the cork stays compressed for months, or years they retain the more narrow diameter. This is how they come out in the mushroom shape.
Just a quick review:
- Chill the wine
- Keep it aimed away from friends and family
- Remove the foil
- Open the wire cage, but do not remove it (tire chains)
- Maintain consistent pressure on the cork and the wire cage
- Twist the cork (or twist the bottle) while keeping pressure on the cork
- Once it is loosened, the pressure in the bottle will start to push the cork out for you
- Help it along gradually if necessary, but maintain pressure
- Once you hear the pressure escape the cork is out
- Serve and enjoy