How do you open a bottle of sparkling wine safely?

According to the European rules, a sparkling wine has at least 3 bar of overpressure at 20 degrees Celsius; in champagne it is about 6 bar.

Regulation (EU) no. 1308/2013 sets that lower limit. If the pressure stays between 1 and 2.5 bar, it is called semi-sparkling wine and not sparkling wine. The Comité Champagne reports that a champagne bottle withstands 20 bar, about three times the natural pressure in the bottle. That pressure is the reason a cork you let go of flies away at great speed.

Chill first, then remove the foil, loosen the wire cage, hold the cork and finally turn the bottle while you hold the cork back.

As soon as the wire cage is loose, keep a hand on the cork. Do not remove the wire cage but leave it around the cork, which gives grip. Tilt the bottle about 45 degrees and hold it away from yourself and from others. With your other hand turn the bottle, not the cork. Let the cork out with a sigh, not with a bang.

Open a bottle of sparkling wine at 8 to 10 degrees Celsius; cold gas expands less, so the cork is easier to control.

The Comité Champagne names 8 to 10 degrees Celsius as the drinking temperature. Put the bottle in the fridge for three to four hours, or for twenty minutes in a bucket of half water, half ice and a handful of salt. Never put a bottle in the freezer and certainly do not forget it there: freezing wine expands and the bottle can burst.

If the cork does not give, warm the neck for half a minute with your hand or a warm cloth and try again, holding the cork firmly.

Old bottles sometimes have a cork that is stuck to the glass. Do not pry with a knife and do not pull on the head with pliers. If it still does not work, use a champagne tong that grips the collar of the cork. If the cork breaks off, put an ordinary corkscrew into the rest and hold the bottle away from you while doing so.

Pour in two goes: first a small amount against the slanted side of the glass, wait until the head settles and then fill to two thirds.

A glass held at an angle lets less carbon dioxide escape than a glass standing upright. Use a tulip-shaped glass or a white wine glass, because in a wide coupe glass the bubbles disappear quickly. A bottle of 0.75 litres gives six glasses of 125 millilitres. With a sparkling wine stopper an opened bottle stays usable for one to two days in the fridge.