Did you know that the pressure in a bottle of traditional method sparkling wine is typically between 60 and 90 pounds??? The pressure has been compared to the tire pressure in a double-decker bus!! Open with care…
Or, maybe you’d like to know a little more about the bubbly stuff. Santé!
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Our speaker at Napa Valley College in the Sensory Analysis class, taught by George Vierra, states it is closer to 190 lbs.
Hi, Anthony! Thanks for writing! I double-checked my old stand-by, the Oxford Companion, and it indicates 5-6 atmospheres. Six atmospheres is 88 pounds, so who knows?
She also said that the pressure varies, depending on the method. The quote above is for the methode traditionelle.
In any case, open with care! Cheers! Nancy
That night we had about 12 different sparkling wines we were tasting, from all over the world, in several different styles. Wouldn’t you know, the two from Tasmania had thier foils and wires removed, but the corks left in, and as they were sitting on a table, the both went off, almost simultaneously, shooting thier corks up into the ceiling. The class had a nervous chuckle about that.
Fun tasting! I’m envious! Yeah, it’s a little dangerous to take off the foils and wire cage if you don’t plan to open it.
It reminds me that, according to Hugh Johnson, 80% of the 1828 vintage of Champagne was lost to breakage because the glass at the time wasn’t reliably strong enough to contain the pressure and they hadn’t figured out how much sugar to add – it was kind of by guess and by golly. The cellar workers had to wear protective masks to work!