Who has never been afraid for their TV, or their face, when opening a bottle of sparkling wine? However, with this technique, there will be no breakage or foam outside the bottle.
In a Tiktok video shared with his 145,000 subscribers, Tom Gilbey, a trained oenologist who became the manager of a wine merchant, gives his technique for uncorking a bottle of sparkling wine. And if there is nothing very difficult about uncorking a bottle of champagne or prosecco, there is, according to the specialist, only one good way to remove the cork.
The first step in opening a bottle of sparkling wine is obviously to remove the tin cap which covers part of the neck of a bottle. Some are made with a tab for easy removal, but in many cases the tip of a knife or corkscrew will be necessary. Once this step is completed, you must loosen the twisted steel cage, commonly called the muselet. This mesh, which attaches the capsule to the cork, allows the bottle to be securely closed. Therefore, there are two schools, those who remove this metal part and those who keep it around the cap to have a better grip once the latter is in hand.
It is after this step that Tom Gilbey gives his three tips to avoid any incident and to ensure that the foam does not escape from the bottle. The first thing to do is to place your thumb on the top of the cork, to prevent it from escaping in an uncontrolled manner, you should know that in a bottle of sparkling wine like champagne, the pressure contained in the bottle is 6 to 8 bars, three times more than in a car tire. With that much pressure, a champagne cork could fly at over 100 kilometers per hour.
According to him, the bottle must also be positioned at 45°C. For two reasons, the first is that in this way the pressure contained in the bottle will nestle in the shoulder of the bottle and not in the neck and the second is that if the cork leaves in an uncontrolled manner, it is not oriented towards the face of the person opening the bottle. Finally, the last is to twist the bottle rather than the cork, holding the bottle at the bottom with one hand, and firmly gripping the cork and bottle ring. This time it’s a question of hook. The force is less with a tight grip, so the opening will be less controlled. In addition, if the cork is damaged, turning it could break it and cause pieces of it to fall into the bottle.
Other precautions can be taken, the best known being ensuring that the bottle has not been shaken before being opened. Another is to cool the bottle well before opening it, because the cold limits the release of gas and makes uncorking easier. But be careful, this can also reduce bubbles and aromas. There are also those who prefer to “pop” the cork or slash the bottle. This time the show is guaranteed, but you will have to be extra vigilant.