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Environment

Making The Most Of Champagne’s CO2

Champagne‚s serving temperature and the way in which it‚s poured make all the difference in preserving its delightful properties.

by Sophie L. Rovner
July 26, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 30

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Credit: J. Agric. Food Chem.
Infrared thermography image of the gaseous CO2 that flows out of champagne during the classic pouring method.
Credit: J. Agric. Food Chem.
Infrared thermography image of the gaseous CO2 that flows out of champagne during the classic pouring method.

Champagne’s serving temperature and the way in which it’s poured make all the difference in preserving its delightful properties, report Gérard Liger-Belair of the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, in France, and colleagues (J. Agric. Food Chem., DOI: 10.1021/jf101239w). Pouring champagne into an upright glass in the classic manner creates more turbulence and foam than pouring the sparkling beverage in a beerlike manner down the side of an inclined glass, the researchers note. As a result, the traditional serving method excessively reduces effervescence by releasing far more dissolved carbon dioxide than the beerlike method. Warmer champagne also surrenders more of its CO2. The findings represent “the first analytical proof” that low temperatures help the drink retain its effervescence during the pouring process, Liger-Belair’s team notes. The researchers believe that champagne viscosity and the diffusion coefficient of CO2 molecules—two factors that are strongly temperature-dependent—are primarily responsible for the differences in champagne’s degassing behavior.

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