Scientists reveal how to keep champagne bubbly for up to 132 YEARS – and it’s surprisingly simple
>
I’ll make a toast to that! Scientists reveal how to keep your champagne sparkling for up to 132 YEARS – and it’s surprisingly easy
- When it comes to keeping champagne sparkling, it’s all about the size of the bottle
- A standard bottle has a shelf life of 40 years, while a 3 liter bottle of bubbly lasts for 132 years
Whether at a wedding or during a promotion, a good party is not complete without a delicious glass of champagne.
But how long can champagne be kept before it goes flat?
In a new study, researchers at the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne set out to find out.
And their findings suggest that when it comes to keeping your champagne sparkling for longer, it’s all about bottle size.
While a standard 750ml bottle has a shelf life of about 40 years, larger 3 liter bottles — known as jeroboams — can keep your bubbles fresh for as much as 132 years, according to the study.
Whether at a wedding or during a promotion, a good party is not complete without a delicious glass of champagne. But how long can champagne be kept before it goes flat?
| Name | Mate | Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Mini bottle | 20cl | 1/4 standard bottle |
| Half bottle | 37.5cl | 1/2 standard bottle |
| Standard bottle | 75cl | 1 standard bottle |
| magnum | 1.5L | 2 standard bottles |
| Jeroboam | 3L | 4 standard bottles |
| Methuselah | 6L | 8 standard bottles |
| Salamanzar | 9L | 12 standard bottles |
| Balthazar | 12L | 16 standard bottles |
| Nebuchadnezzar | 15L | 20 standard bottles |
Champagne gets its bubbles from carbon dioxide (CO2), which is generated during a second round of fermentation in the bottle.
By combining yeast, sugar and wine, champagne producers stimulate the production of CO2 and extra alcohol.
While the yeast dies within months, the flavors and aromas become more complex over time.
This explains why older bottles are often more expensive.
But champagne also loses CO2 over time, with the gas slowly seeping through the cork and metal cap.
In their new study, the team, led by Gerard Liger-Belair, set out to find out how bottle size affects how long champagne stays fizzy.
The researchers measured CO2 levels in 13 different champagne wines that had been aged for decades and sealed with metal caps.
If you really want to get the best out of your champagne, you should opt for a 3 liter jeroboam. The researchers found that this keeps champagne sparkling for an average of 132 years
As expected, they found that the amount of CO2 in the bottles decreased over time, with the oldest vintage, from 1974, losing 80 percent of its carbonation.
However, the size of the bottle turned out to play a ‘major’ role in the amount of CO2 that remained.
Based on the analysis of the 13 bottles, the team developed a formula to calculate the average shelf life of a bottle.
They predict that a standard 750ml bottle will spontaneously produce bubbles for another 40 years, while a 1.5 liter bottle will continue to bubble for 82 years.
However, if you really want to get the best out of your champagne, it is best to opt for a 3 liter jeroboam.
The researchers found that this keeps champagne sparkling for an average of 132 years.
“Increasing the size of the bottle has been found to greatly increase the ability to retain dissolved CO2 and thus the bubbling ability of champagne during tasting,” the researchers wrote in their study, published in ACS Omega.