ISO: Champagne Splits or Halves for Cocktails

[eje]

[...]

I'll add here that I've had decent successes with champagne stoppers at work, as long as you're not trying to keep the bottle more than 24 hrs or so. The ones that have little wings that grab on two sides seem to work best. (Don't know if that makes any sense).

Yeah, those stoppers work great. Though I find it's not so much the time, as the number of openings that is the factor. At home I've opened a bottle once, stoppered, re-refrigerated and had it be fine later the same week. However, once you open the bottle a couple times, the fizz drops off pretty exponentially.

[thirtyoneknots]

[...]

I'll add here that I've had decent successes with champagne stoppers at work, as long as you're not trying to keep the bottle more than 24 hrs or so. The ones that have little wings that grab on two sides seem to work best. (Don't know if that makes any sense).

Yeah, those stoppers work great. Though I find it's not so much the time, as the number of openings that is the factor. At home I've opened a bottle once, stoppered, re-refrigerated and had it be fine later the same week. However, once you open the bottle a couple times, the fizz drops off pretty exponentially.

You are absolutely right, that has a much greater impact on the longevity of the wine. Thanks for clarifying.

[Kent Wang]

How do champagne stoppers work? Can I not use a vacuum top -- would that actually make it worse?

[Corinna]

[...]

I'll add here that I've had decent successes with champagne stoppers at work, as long as you're not trying to keep the bottle more than 24 hrs or so. The ones that have little wings that grab on two sides seem to work best. (Don't know if that makes any sense).

Yeah, those stoppers work great. Though I find it's not so much the time, as the number of openings that is the factor. At home I've opened a bottle once, stoppered, re-refrigerated and had it be fine later the same week. However, once you open the bottle a couple times, the fizz drops off pretty exponentially.

We use these stoppers at work (a winery in the Finger Lakes) and they work great, as stated. I agree that you don't want to open it more than a couple times, as the pressure does drop a lot.

[JAZ]

Most champagne stoppers simply seal the bottle so the carbon dioxide doesn't escape, and as Erik mentioned, they work pretty well for one opening.

However, I've found this WMF pump/seal to be much better than a simple stopper. You can probably tell from the photo that this is two pieces: a stopper similar to other, more typical stoppers, plus a pump. Rather than removing air, like a vacuum pump does for wine, this pumps air into the bottle, which does keep the bubbles in the champagne.

I'm not sure if this is available in the US anymore, but if you find one, buy it.

[thirtyoneknots]

How do champagne stoppers work? Can I not use a vacuum top -- would that actually make it worse?

A vacuum stopper, like a vacu-vin, would yeild results similar to simply sticking a cork in the neck, or worse, since the seal would not be as good. Keep in mind a sparkling wine is generating gas as it sits, so any vacuum you pump out of the bottle will be equalized quickly. Then you have equilibrium, then internal pressure which escapes since there would be nothing then holding the stopper in place. Then your wine is flat. Yuck.