At the table · 2 March 2026 · 3 min read
How to open and serve sparkling wine
A sigh, not a pop. The temperature, the glass and the grip that keep every bubble we spent three years putting in the bottle.
A bottle of Classic Cuvée spends at least three years in our cellar building its bubbles. It takes about three seconds to lose a good share of them with a careless pop. Here is how we open and pour at the cellar door.
Get it cold, not frozen
Aim for 6–8°C. That is three hours in the fridge, or twenty minutes in a bucket of ice and water (the water matters, as ice alone cools slowly). Too warm and the wine foams over; too cold and you taste nothing.
Open it with a sigh
- Remove the foil and loosen the wire cage, but leave it on the cork.
- Hold the bottle at 45 degrees, pointing away from anyone.
- Grip the cork and cage firmly in one hand and turn the bottle, not the cork, with the other.
- Let the cork ease out slowly. You want a soft hiss, not a bang.
Pick the right glass
Flutes look festive but trap the aroma. We pour our sparkling wines into ordinary white-wine glasses, which give the wine room to open up while still holding the bubbles.
Pour in two stages
Pour an inch, let the foam settle, then top up to about two-thirds full. Tilting the glass as you pour keeps more of the bubbles in the wine.
Keeping an open bottle
A proper sparkling-wine stopper keeps a bottle lively for two to three days in the fridge. The silver spoon in the neck is a myth; the cold does all the work.
