Bubbly Champagne

There are certain times where I have found myself in the position where I had some bubbly left over, and then had to toss it when I realized after storing it for a day (or two) all of the bubbles were gone. It is always a bit upsetting to have to toss out 'old wine', but I find the act of tossing out flat champagne to be especially depressing! Here are some tricks that I have learnt along the way (most involving items that you have lying around the house!).

• Use a champagne wine stopper. This pressure seals the bottle and keeps all the bubbles in so that you can store champagne for a number of days. This is the ideal way to store champagne, but the stoppers can prove to be expensive, especially if you are getting a good one.
• Raisins. Once you have poured out a glass or so of the champagne, you just toss a few raisins in and let them sit there. This does not really affect the taste, and for some reason helps to keep the bubbles, well, bubbly. You can also toss one in your glass the day after, and it will to some degree have the same reaction.
• Saran Wrap. Once the bottle has been opened, just grab some saran wrap, wrap it around the top of the bottle super super tight and seal it with an elastic. This helps to keep the bubbles in and you can store it for a couple of days this way.
• Silver Spoon. This way is said to be more of an old wives' tale, but I think that it works just fine. Once the bottle has been opened you take a small silver spoon and insert the end of it into the bottle (so the spoon part rests on top). Something about the metal keeps the fizz in!

Champagne and any sparkling wine are just too good to waste, so hopefully one of these tricks will help to make sure you don't have to do the day after toss again!

Happy Monday!
HM