MOËT & CHANDON GUIDELINES

Storing & opening

Storing guidelines

How to store your bottle of champagne?

STORING TEMPERATURE: Keep bottles within the following temperature range : 45 - 65°F / 7 - 18°C

AVOID THERMAL SHOCK: Keep the temperature cool and constant. High temperatures speed up the ageing process and damage the quality of the wine. Cold temperatures slow down the development of the Champagne and prevent it from taking on more complexity.

LIGHT AND HEAT: Do not expose Champagne bottles to light or heat. Champagne is particularly sensitive to light. Transparent glass bottles must be especially well protected.

HUMIDITY: Maintaining a humidity level above 70% helps to preserve the cork's physical and elastic qualities. Very low humidity and high temperatures can dry out the cork and cause rapid wine transformation.

AVOID SHOCKS: Handle with care to prevent the bottle from becoming brittle. There are 6 to 8 bars of pressure inside the bottle, which is three times higher than the pressure in a car tire. Please keep your bottles on a smooth surface.

All our Champagnes contain sulphites.

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Aging and opening guidelines

Champagne is unique and has its own ageing potential. It also depends on your personal taste: either you appreciate the wine on the young and fresh side or on the mature side.

In addition to storage conditions, which have a direct impact on the quality of the wine and how it develops, the blends (vintage or non-vintage) it contains, as well as the shape of the bottle also determine how the champagne develops as time goes by.

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Vintage and non-vintage bottles

Aging potential of Champagne

In good storage conditions, our non-vintage bottles can be stored up to 3 years once on the market.

Please also note that half bottles age quicker than bottles, and that magnums age more slowly than bottles, so for long-term keeping they are a better choice. We usually recommend opening bottles of non-vintage brut:

  • < 75CL : 12 and 18 months after release from the cellar
  • 75CL : Up to 24 months after release from the cellar
  • > 150CL : Up to 36 months after release from the cellar

Ageing Champagne longer is possible with our vintages. In good storage conditions, they can be stored up to 7 to 10 years after purchase (or even more), depending on the vintage.

There is no benefit in keeping champagne longer than the recommended time. All the bottles of champagne that we sell have been aged in our cellars and they can be opened as soon as they are purchased.

Keeping bottles longer may bring about changes in taste (more pronounced), colour (darker) and effervescence (less). In addition, the cuvées will probably develop differently from the one our oenologists wanted to convey.

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Opening steps

How to open your Champagne bottle

Do not sabre the bottle

Step 1: Make sure that the bottle is at the ideal temperature.
Step 2: If the bottle is humid, wipe it dry with a cloth
Step 3: Remove the part of the foil which covers the wire cage and the cork.
Step 4: Tilt the bottle to a 45-degree angle and avoid pointing it towards you or a guest.
Step 5: Loosen the wire cage while placing your thumb on the cap.
Step 6: While holding the cork firmly in one hand with your thumb on the cap, gently twist the base of the bottle to release the cork without letting it escape.