It’s New Year’s Eve. You’ve got your streamers and your party hats the house is full of people and the mid night hour is rolling around almost time for that classic beverage of the evening champagne.
Step one with champagne get it good and cold about 45 degrees, this is the ideal temperature for serving and it also lowers the pressure inside the bottle. So you’re bubbles end up in the glass not on your guest. And the secret to getting that wine really cold? Salt. Take an equal part ice and water and put them in an ice bucket add a half full of salt and you’ve lower the freezing point to about zero degrees this will chill your wine very quickly it also helps to spin the bottle.
When it’s time to pour remove the foil and put your hand on top of the cork to keep it safe while you unscrew the wire cage that protects the cork during shipping. And don’t pop slowly twist the bottle and the cork at the same time until you hear this sound.
And when it’s time to pour take your thumb and put it in this indentation on the bottom of the bottle which is called the punt. Hold the bottle like this and you can reach all the way across the table to serve your guest.
Start by pouring a small amount into the glass let the bubble subside and then top it off no more than two thirds full. And there you have it and you're ready for the big count down.
Now if you want to try something a little more theatrical consider doing it the traditional French way. With a sword, this is called savoring. Take the bottle, remove all the foil from the top them carefully unscrew the wire cage, then remove, locate the vertical seem on the bottle and note where the seem reaches the neck. This is the weakest point on the bottle.
Point the bottle away from your guest take the sword align it with the seen and with one fast motion just slice off the top. Now glass gets into the wine because the pressure would shoot it out and it’s time to serve. Just like Napoleon, happy New Year.
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