Why you should NEVER display a bottle of Champagne in the living room

▲ Definitely not the right way to store a bottle of Champagne.

Producing Champagne is truly a form of art. From vineyard to sale, a Champagne producer has to make many choices that influence the final aromas, taste, colour and texture of the Champagne, and does its utmost to compose these as optimally as possible.

Just as important as the production process itself is what happens to the bottles after production. As soon as the Champagne leaves the perfect conditions of the cellar, it is susceptible to various environmental influences, such as temperature, light, humidity, movement and, of course, time. These influences can slowly change the Champagne.

What we unfortunately hear all too often is that people store Champagne on the extractor hood, or for example in a display cabinet. Yes, a bottle of Champagne does indeed look festive, but this way opening a bottle of Champagne will never be a celebration. And that is a terrible shame.

So how should you store a bottle of Champagne, and what should you look out for when buying a bottle? In other words: how do you make sure that the Champagne you are about to open is in perfect condition?

Go for a constant, cool temperature

It is not for nothing that Champagne houses store their Champagnes in an underground cellar. Underground, the temperatures are constant and cool. Optimal for the bottles is a temperature between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius. Around these temperatures a Champagne can develop slowly but interestingly. If it is too warm, the Champagne will develop faster, oxidise faster and therefore age faster.
'Too warm', by the way, is quickly reached above 20 degrees Celsius.

What about too cold? Storing Champagne at too low a temperature is generally not a problem if all other conditions are good. A low temperature ensures slow development and ageing of the Champagne. Be careful with temperatures below freezing; Champagne can freeze too! Once it has reached that point, precious characteristics will be lost.

One option is to store your Champagne in the fridge. Research has shown that storing Champagne in the fridge can extend its shelf life. The problem with the fridge, however, is that the other conditions are usually not optimal. Think of the humidity, the presence of (fridge) light and potential vibrations of the fridge.
It is recommended to keep Champagne in the fridge for a few days and not months or years.

Perhaps even more important than the temperature itself are temperature fluctuations. High temperatures cause the Champagne to expand and the air between the liquid and the cork to be compressed. When the temperatures drop, the Champagne shrinks again, causing the air in the bottle to create a vacuum. If this process repeats a number of times, it is possible that the seal between the bottle and the cork no longer closes perfectly and too much oxygen enters the bottle. Too much oxygen is disastrous for Champagne.
Try to avoid leaving the bottle of Champagne in the living room for a few days, then in the fridge for a while, then back in the kitchen for a bit, only to finally store it in the cool cellar.

The ideal conditions:

A constant temperature of around 10 to 12 degrees Celsius for optimal development of the Champagne. A cool cellar is ideal. Champagne can also be stored in the fridge for a shorter period. Preferably use a 'second' fridge that is used less often and in which you ideally store only drinks.
Do you not want to store your Champagne in the fridge and have no cellar? Then try to find the most constant and cool room in the house to counteract temperature fluctuations. In general, it does little harm if Champagne is stored up to 20 degrees Celsius, as long as the temperature stays constant and you do not store the Champagne for too long. Always try, however, to stay around those 10 to 12 degrees!

As dark as possible

You may not expect it, but light has an enormously large influence on Champagne. Not only sunlight (UV) is harmful, but also fluorescent light, infrared light and, to a much lesser extent, LED light cause imbalance. When a Champagne is exposed to this kind of light, the chemicals and molecules that make the wine age so beautifully are broken down. This accelerates the ageing process and ultimately the quality of the Champagne will decline sharply.
Fruity aromas are the first to be affected. The colour of the Champagne can also become lighter.

▲ The influence of light on the colour of Champagne. On the left is an unaffected bottle. On the right has been regularly exposed to light.

Light can irreparably damage Champagne within an hour(!!). And be aware, this almost never happens in the cellar of a Champagne house. Where light damage will occur much more often is in bars, restaurants, off-licences (especially the bottles on display in the window) or at home. But even if you buy a bottle straight from the off-licence's cellar, that does not mean the bottle has not been affected by light earlier. Perhaps the bottle stood for a considerable time in a bright warehouse at the wholesaler.
To rule this out, you can of course ask the seller how the Champagne was stored and how they obtained the Champagne. Was it, for example, collected directly from the Champagne house, or were there several links in between?

Another factor to take into account is the colour of the glass. Champagne bottles are usually brown, green or transparent. Brown glass keeps out by far the most harmful light waves; as much as 90% of the light waves are blocked by this type of glass. Green glass keeps out at least 50%, depending on the tint and thickness of the glass. Transparent bottles block around 10% of the light waves. This last variant is therefore the most risky and calls for extra care.
Does this mean that Champagne in transparent bottles is always affected by light? No. This depends strongly on the conditions in which the Champagne was stored.

▲ Three different colours of glass used for Champagne bottles.

If a bottle is exposed to light here and there, for example by the light of the fridge; no stress. Only when a bottle is exposed to excessive light does the ageing process accelerate and eventually the goût de lumière can be tasted.
So NEVER put your bottle of Champagne on display in the living room or on the extractor hood!

The ideal conditions:

As dark as possible. Avoid contact with light and sun. In a Champagne cellar, a special LED lamp is used with a light spectrum of about 600 nm that gives off an amber-coloured light. Such lamps suppress harmful UV and IR rays. Sodium-vapour lamps are also suitable lamps.
For everyone who does not have a Champagne cellar at home; store your bottle in packaging and avoid contact with any form of light. Should all of this not work out, then wrap your bottle of Champagne in yellow cellophane or aluminium foil. This too blocks harmful light waves.

Humidity plays a role too

The humidity of a room does not so much directly influence the Champagne, but in the longer term it affects the cork. An optimal humidity, around 70-75%, ensures the preservation of the cork and the preservation of its function. If the air is too dry, there is a chance that the cork will also dry out and can no longer form an effective seal. A regular fridge, for example, is often too dry.

Only when you want to store an opened bottle is it wise to put the bottle in the fridge. Do make sure that you seal the Champagne in the right way with the right stopper. With this stopper from Brevetti WAF you can keep your Champagne in the fridge for up to a week, without the aromas and bubbles being lost.

If the humidity becomes too high, that can result in mould formation. The label and especially the cork can be damaged by this and cause unpleasant aromas in the Champagne.

The ideal conditions:

A humidity of around 70-75%. Do you, like most people, not have the option to regulate the humidity? Then store your bottles in a cool, dark place. Not in the fridge, unless you are going to drink the Champagne within a few days. In general, the influence of humidity is not considerable and it only starts to play a role if you store your Champagne for a longer time. In principle, therefore, anything between 60 and 90% humidity is worth considering.

No movement

Fairly little is known about the influence of vibrations (or movement) on the taste, aromas and texture of the Champagne. Vibrations cause a molecular imbalance within the bottle and, according to some sources, can even break down molecules. The imbalance can be restored by letting the bottles rest for a number of weeks after transport, for example.
Whether vibrations break down molecules? Perhaps. Bear in mind, though, that Champagne is sold all over the world and so the bottles have to be shipped from France to all other continents. Virtually all Champagne houses do this by boat, and transport usually takes several weeks. This would mean an enormous loss of taste, aromas and texture, which, given the status of Champagne, is not very likely. That vibrations have some influence on the Champagne is possible. But to what extent is unknown.

The claim that Champagne in the fridge would be exposed to too many vibrations is therefore questionable. If weeks of sloshing at sea do not ruin the Champagne, the minimal vibrations in a fridge will probably do little to the Champagne.
It can never hurt, however, to make sure that the bottles move and are exposed to vibrations as little as possible, in order to encourage the most optimal ageing possible.

▲ Do the vibrations in the fridge affect the Champagne?

The ideal conditions:

Store Champagne in a place where the bottles move and are exposed to vibrations as little as possible. Although the influence of vibrations has been researched only to a limited extent, it can never hurt to prevent it.
Have you just bought Champagne and are in no hurry to drink your bottle? Then let it rest for a number of weeks to restore the molecular harmony. Especially if the bottle has just been transported.

The influence of time

Time can, just as with all other wines, influence the aromas, taste, colour and structure of Champagne. For instance, fruity aromas, which are often found in younger Champagnes, can change into aromas of honey, nuts, dried fruit and toast. Fresh notes can develop into more complex and rich notes, the liveliness of the mousse decreases the longer a Champagne ages, and the colour too can become ever deeper. Do remember that once the Champagne has been given a cork, the yeast is out of it and the ageing process is in principle over. So it will always be about subtle changes.

▲ Ageing in the Champagne cellar.

When a Champagne is stored in the right way, those subtle changes can develop beautifully and lead to an unparalleled experience. But not all Champagnes can develop in this way.
The influence of time on Champagne is diverse and connected to several factors.

Read also
The influence of time on Champagne

The ultimate ideal conditions

So preferably store your Champagne in a dark room, at 10 to 12 degrees Celsius, with a humidity of about 70-75%, that is vibration-free.

Try to observe these conditions as much as possible, so that the Champagne can age or be stored as optimally and as beautifully as possible. Do you not have the option to create these conditions? Then choose not to store your Champagne for too long. Rather buy a box of Champagne more often instead of 5 boxes at once.

What is important, though, is to check what the conditions were before you bought the bottle. In doubt? Dare to ask.

At Selected by Dronk you know it is right. Our range consists only of Champagnes, which means we can create the optimal conditions in our storage. Our Champagnes are stored in their box in a closed, dark cell. This 'lightless' cell has the right temperature (10-12 degrees Celsius) and humidity. Moreover, we collect the Champagnes ourselves directly from the Champagne houses and thus ensure fast and correct transport.
Also nice to know; we regularly 'retest' the Champagnes within our range to monitor their development. This way we know for sure that our range meets the quality requirements we set!

Soon we will discuss the influence of time on Champagne in detail. In the meantime, fancy enjoying a delicious Champagne?
Take a look in our webshop!