This Is the Best Way to Store Leftover Champagne

Being both a lightweight and a sparkling wine drinker, I often end up with half a bottle of this wine or choose not to open it at all. None of these options seem appropriate to me.

While I don’t mind pouring a random $11 prosecco down the drain, my partner and I just got engaged and were given several bottles of fancy champagne – too good a thing to waste. The inevitable remains must be protected. After testing several tricks to keep sparkling wine fizzing, I’ve found one that works.

Testing options

For Christmas, a friend gave me a Le Creuset champagne cork and a bottle of champagne. A few weeks later, I saw an America’s Test Kitchen post on Instagram about this very topic. In this video, ATK talks about how to use plastic wrap if you think your champagne cork isn’t doing the job: Simply cover the hole with plastic wrap and tie a rubber band securely around your neck to keep the plastic in place.

This option prompted me to conduct a parallel test – but not with my fancy champagne, no sir. Instead I bought four cheap bottles of prosecco. (Champagne and Prosecco are both sparkling white wines; they are simply produced in different regions. This test applies to all sparkling wines, including reds.)

I poured a shot of Bev from each bottle and set up different preservation options:

• One bottle came with a specially designed champagne stopper.

• The other was secured with plastic wrap and rubber band.

• The third was plugged with an old wine stopper and covered with a kitchen towel for safety (in case the pressure buildup caused it to explode).

• The fourth bottle was left open as a control.

Brilliant results

Twenty-four hours later, I poured another glass from each bottle. Before even tasting the wine, I noticed two things: the specially made champagne cork was the only one that fell out of the bottle with a loud pop! air, as if it had been bottled for the first time. I also noted that each glass looked almost the same, with visible bubbles and some foam forming as I poured. This suggested to me that tasting would be the best indicator of how well each of these methods preserved the fizz.

While each sip did produce some fizzing sensations, the only sensation that was reminiscent of a freshly opened bottle was the sample that used a specially designed champagne cork, i.e. one that popped. This sip of this wine demonstrated both the initial visual presence of bubbles and the typical delayed foaming that you would expect from Champagne. (The foaming sensation is what differentiates a fresh bottle from a flat one.) I tested it again after 24 hours and it popped again, and still passed the taste test.

Another unexpected result: the other three samples were about the same, meaning the control bottle with the cap fully open had the same mouthfeel as the other two (with the old cork stopper and the bottle sealed with plastic wrap). This tells me that the thin shape of the bottle’s neck itself does most of the work of conserving bubbles, and it’s not worth the hassle of sticking an old cork in there, let alone fiddling with plastic wrap.

The champagne cork is worth it.

Whether you’re a fan of Prosecco, Lambrusco, pet-nat or a classic champagne toast, my experiment proves it’s worth having a proper champagne stopper in your kitchen. This type of plug has a silicone rubber seal and a strong hinge mechanism to ensure a tight seal.

Using one of these will help you extend the life of any sparkling wine by several weeks, which will be enough time to polish it.

There are cheaper options , but even if you choose a more expensive brand like Le Creuset, which I tested, after just a few uses you’ll end up saving far more than you would in unspent bottles. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, an engagement, or the start of a new life, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate with a bottle of sparkling wine. It pays to be prepared. Draw bubbles.

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