Tips for Storing & Ageing Champagne & Sparkling Wine

Storing:
The reason many Champagne and sparkling wine bottles are made from dark green glass is because it’s light-resistant. Sparkling is a particularly sensitive wine, so bottles should be kept in a cool, dark and dry place, away from heat, light, vibrations and severe temperature variations.

If you’re keeping the bottle for a long time, try and make sure the temperature remains consistent. Storing the bottle horizontally is preferable.

Ageing
Champagne and sparkling wines don’t always need to be aged like some other wines, as they will have already been through an ageing process while in the cellars. There are obviously a lot of different sparkling wines and some are meant to be enjoyed straight away as a young wine and will not age well. A vey general rule is that non-vintage sparkling wines are best to be enjoyed within around 3 years and vintage and prestige cuvées around 5-10 years.

Champagnes  and some sparkling wines from a really good vintage can improve for up to 20 years or more.  As it ages, it becomes more complex, the fruit aromas of a younger wine will evolve into dried fruit, honey, nutty and toasty flavours. It will also take on a deeper-golden colour as they age and can lose some of their bubbles.

Three Houses that have fantastic records for ageing their vintage Champagnes are Krug, Veuve Clicquot and Pol Roger.