The one party trick you need to know for the silly season!

In my family we call opening bottles of champagne “happy sounds”. I completely understand if you are judging my family right now – your judgements are also probably right. But opening a bottle of champagne is great, you’re just a minute away from enjoying a beautiful flute. But, when you pop the bottle only to find it slightly explodes everywhere it can be a small disappointment. But, scientists from France (I’ll trust anything they say about bubbly) have found that you can stop this from happening… All you have to do is shake the bottle.

What? I found myself saying as I read the research, but it is apparently true. To open a bottle of champagne without fizz, you have have to shake it for just the right amount of time and then wait the right amount of time before opening it.

They found that although the pressure initially drops when champagne is shaken, huge numbers of ‘super critical’ bubbles form in the neck of the bottle.

This is what leads to the characteristic effervescence that occurs when a bottle is opened. However, after around 40 seconds the number of bubbles in this state begins to decrease until they have completely disappeared 220 seconds – just over three and half minutes – after shaking.

So if you have a pesky suspicious champagne bottle that looks like it might pop, follow these steps:

1. Shake it for a few seconds
2. Put it down on the bench and leave it for three and half minutes
3. Slowly pick tit up, open it and enjoy those spill-free happy sounds!