Paula Goddard’s Wines of the Week starting 11th November 2019
Shake a bottle of champagne before you open it and, inevitably, the cork will fly out of the bottle. With luck it won’t hit a piece of priceless china or take someone’s eye out. Because opening a bottle of fizzy wine can be a dangerous business.
A German scientist has found that a vigorously shaken bottle of champagne will expel its cork at almost 25 miles per hour. So if you want to drink champagne, rather than cause an injury, you’ll need to arm yourself with a necessary safety tool – a clean tea towel.
To open a bottle of champagne safely first remove the foil covering the cork, then cover the top of the bottle with the tea towel. Now you’ll need to do the remaining bottle opening under cover.
Untwist the wire cage covering the cork and remove it. From this point onwards there is little to keep the cork popping out – your tea towel will ensure you safely capture any exploding corks from a ‘lively’ bottle.
Now holding the tea towel over the cork with your right hand, twist the bottom of the bottle with your left hand. The bottle should start to twist off the cork.
Gradually loosen the cork and let it gently pop out. The tea towel will catch the cork and soak up any wine that fizzes out. Finally, remove the cloth and pour.
PG Wine Reviews
Tesco Cava Brut
£5.75 Tesco
Cheap for a reason.
Corte Molino Prosecco
£8.50 Co-op
Sweet apple flavours.
Lot Folletto D’Oro Prosecco
£9.99 Aldi
Classy looking bottle that contains a tasty Prosecco with hints of peach.
Comte de Senneval champagne
£11.49 Lidl
Simple but classic champagne that tastes of apples and digestive biscuits.
Sensi Prosecco Gold
£17.49 Ocado
If you haven’t got a gold-covered toilet then you could go this gold-coloured bottle of Prosecco. Very bling. But it only contains fizzy wine.
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© Paula Goddard 2019 www.paulagoddard.com
