There’s nothing quite like that lovely fizzing sound as you pour that newly opened bottle of English Sparkling Wine, and watch the glorious bubbles rise through the glass. But how long will that bottle last after you open it?
The answer is, a surprisingly long time, if you take the right steps! You could enjoy a glass a week after you’ve opened the bottle, in the right circumstances. Read on to find out how to keep your open bottle in best condition…
Stoppers for English Sparkling Wine
As you might imagine, putting a proper stopper back in the neck of the bottle is important to keeping that English Sparkling Wine sparkling and tasting great. There is a myth about putting a teaspoon in the neck (handle down!), which sounds great but sadly doesn’t actually work!
You can stuff a tissue or napkin in if there’s nothing else to hand, but that should only be a temporary solution. Keep a supply of regular corks to hand – it’s impossible to get the “mushroom” cork that the English Sparkling Wine came with back in the bottle, but an ordinary cork will fit and do just as well for these purposes.
However, you must keep the wine in the fridge if you want it to stay fresh! Without getting too technical, the cooler temperatures slow down some of the chemical reactions that turn a wine worse over time.
The less wine you’ve drunk, the fizzier it will stay, as there is less gap between the wine and the top of the bottle for the bubbles to escape into as it sits there.
Coravin
If you really want to guarantee the freshness of your ESW for days after first opening, there are some high tech (and relatively high-price”) solutions out there. Coravin supply systems that are especially designed for sparkling wine preservation. They pump CO2 into the bottle to re-pressurise it and have a layer of inert gas covering the wine. Coravin claim it can keep your English Sparkling Wine in great condition for up to 4 weeks. If you can afford it, and regularly don’t drain a bottle in one sitting, this might be the thing for you!
