Champagne: how should you store your bottles?

After Christmas, then New Year’s Eve, you may still have a few bottles of champagne left, especially if you have welcomed people and planned large as it should be. Or maybe you just want to mark a big occasion to celebrate years later by drinking a really good bottle of champagne. If you’ve just become a parent, for example, buy a vintage bottle and save it to open on your child’s 20th birthday!

Indeed, high-end champagne, sold in good quality bottles, matures and improves over the years. Watch out though! This only applies if the bottles are kept in optimal conditions. If so, you are very likely to end up with a corked champagne, without bubbles or both.

Florent Martin, Best Sommelier of France 2021 and Best Worker of France 2022, spoke to Femme Actuelle about the optimal conditions for storing champagne. First rule of thumb: like wine, you should store your bottles of champagne horizontally. The reason ? Keep the cork moist, because if it dries out and cracks, the champagne will oxidize, turning into something like vinegar… not very appetizing.

Another element to take into account, which applies to both wine and champagne, is the constancy of the temperature, which should be between 13°C and 16°C. Finally, the storage location should absolutely be in the dark. The sun’s rays could corrupt your champagne by oxidizing it.