video : You're Doing It All Wrong
How to Pour Sparkling Wine with Loïc Le Calvez
By Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin
Loïc Le Calvez, senior winemaker of Taltarni Vineyards, has experienced all of the wrong ways that people open and pour sparkling wine: shaking the bottle, popping the cork, leaving the glass on the table while pouring too vigorously. Here’s the right way to celebrate with bubbly.
He got everything right, except for one thing - he did not cover the top of the bottle with a napkin. The hand is not supposed to contact the mouth of the bottle.
Well done, but one would never touch the glass with the bottle when pouring the wine in the glass. Makes nasty noises. Not elegant.
all good except for the lacking of a napkin at the top. I also always remove the wire....
What does a Breton know about sparkling wine? And what is he doing in Australia? This guy should be making cider!
Well, nobody gets born as a sparkling wine expert - everybody has to learn it; wherever he comes from and wherever he learns it. Why not in Australia - nice place to be :-)
A napkin at the top is a crutch for those who cannot open a bottle without a loud pop.
According to the Court of Master Sommeliers, proper opening a champagne bottle does call for serviette (towel) placement over the cage and cork with your thumb placed on top of all. Champagne should be poured into into glasses that are sitting on a tray or at each place setting at the table. (In the proper order, of course!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nNBHh...
Watch and learn
While there are certainly slight distinctions between opening a bottle of sparkling wine in a professional context as a opposed to at home or a small dinner party, I believe the main focus of the video was to correct assumptions that a bottle needs to be agitated by shaking or "popping" the cork.