Exploding Champagne? Avoid It With This Trick

Written by Madeline Puckette

Never fear a bottle of Champagne exploding again with this awesome trick! A one-minute video shows how anyone can keep Champagne from exploding while you’re opening it.

Madeline Puckette shows Helen at KATU TV and AM Northwest in Portland, Oregon a wine-opening secret.

Avoid Exploding Champagne: Step by Step

Here’s a convenient summary of everything you should do.

  1. Keep your sparkling wine extra cold (but don’t freeze it!) The colder the wine is, the less pressure it will have.
  2. Remove the foil and untwist the tab with 6 rotations. Leave the cage and cork together.
  3. While holding the cage and cork firmly with one hand, rotate the base of the bottle.
  4. Apply resistance as the cage and cork push out so the wine opens with a slow “pffffft!”
  5. Hold bottle at a 45° angle so that bottle pressure doesn’t bubble out.
  6. Pour into glasses at an angle to preserve bubbles
Why Wine Glasses Matter
Find out why wine glasses make a sizable difference to the way wine tastes. Also, is there a difference between stemmed and stemless glasses?
Wine Temperature
Turns out, we should all be putting red wine in the fridge for 15–30 minutes prior to opening it.
Champagne Tricks
Open a bottle of Champagne safely, even after shaking it, make sure to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Decanting Wine
Pretty much all wine is better when decanted because of certain chemical reactions that happen when wine is exposed to oxygen.

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Written byMadeline Puckette

James Beard Award-winning author and Wine Communicator of the Year. I co-founded Wine Folly to help people learn about wine. @WineFolly