Facts about Champagne

• Approximately 49 million bubbles can be found in a 750 ml champagne bottle that is stored at 20 ºC. Renowned scientist Bill Lembeck calculated this figure.

• The pressure in a champagne bottle is three times higher than in an automobile tire, measuring at ninety pounds per square inch.

• The world’s tallest champagne glass stands at approximately seven feet and can hold up to 22 bottles of champagne. This glass was unveiled at a festival in Spotelo, a city in Italy.

• The name ‘Champagne’ is copyrighted, and the wine can be named as champagne only if it is produced in France’s Champagne region. If a similar wine is produced, using the same methodology, elsewhere other than Champagne, then it has to be labeled as methode champenoise so as to give credit to the procedure.

• Champagne goes particularly well with seafood, especially smoked salmon, lobsters, crabs and oysters.

• Heidsieck & Co Monopole Blue Top Champagne Brut was the champagne that was served on Titanic. There was a rumor that a few bottles of this champagne that were recently brought out of the wreckage still tasted fantastic.

• Marilyn Monroe is believed to have once taken a ‘champagne bath’ that took approximately 350 champagne bottles to fill the bathtub.

• A champagne cork leaves the bottle at a velocity of approximately 38-40 mph.

• Non-vintage champagnes are aged for at least 18 months and vintage champagnes aged for a minimum of three years and up to ten and are the most expensive.

• The temperature of the champagne should ideally be 6 to 8 degrees. Champagne should always be drunk in a tall narrow glass called a ‘flute’ to confine the bubbles and concentrate the aroma. To enhance the taste and aroma, the champagne should be allowed to sit for a few minutes after pouring into the glass.

• The size of the bubbles is one of the factors that determine the quality of the champagne. Tiny bubbles denote high-quality champagne. Large bubbles are a mark of inferior quality.