How come (in the movies) whenever someone gets champaign brought to them in the silver ice bucket, they always pour the glasses full, then they pour a little into the bucket? Why? Why do they pour some into the ice bucket?
Can you name a movie? I have no memory of seeing this in any movie, and of the top of my head, I could probably name every movie made between 1907 and yesterday that featured Veuve Clicquot.
Additionally, I’ve never had champagne brought to me in an ice bucket. They don’ t lug it out in a bucket.
Please name a movie, I am now going crazy with curiosity.
This is what I’m talking about.
:smack: Off the top of my head I can’t think of the names of the movies I’ve seen this in…BUT I hAVE SEEN IT DONE IN SEVERAL.
I think I saw it in at least one older James Bond movie.
I, too, am intrigued. I’ve never heard of such a practice. Makes even less sense than pouring it into a ladies’ slipper.
Perhaps you are thinking of Miller High Life, “The Champagne of Beers”, and they are simply ‘tipping the forty for the homies that ain’t here tonight.’
Aha! This must be the origin of pouring some out for your homies! Who knew the ‘urban youth’ were really just ripping off hoity-toity rich folk?
You need to stay at beter hotels;)
They don’ t lug it out in a bucket.
The heck they don’t. Everytime I can remember getting bubbly sent up to a hotel room they brought it in a silver ice bucket.
I think I’ve seen the “pour the champaign in the ice bucket” scene in movies. I always thought it was done before the glasses were poured. Actually, I’ve never even thought about it at all.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m wondering if i’ve ever really seen it done, or if it’s just a false memory.
pkbites I have never had champagne (or any other chilled wine) served to me from the bucket. The bucket has always been off to the side, like a silent butler, waiting to receive the wine after the first glasses have been poured.
At tastings, it’s as if they are trying to hide that darn things (Admittedly, this is probably to keep people from swiping them and then selling them on eBay.)
Maybe the waiters and sommeliers of the world are fussier with girls.
And I’m still going crazy trying to think of a movie where they pour some into the ice bucket.
The next time I’m at the back, it’s going to be darned hard not to tip a little grape soda into the ice chest.
This suggests a method of pouring off any “floaters”. Just a WAG, but pouring a bit into the bucket both removes any “crap” one might want to pour off, and provides a suitable place to do so.
Maybe said bubbly helps to melt the ice, therefore further cooling the booze.
“Tip my magnum to my fallen major investors”
Ice doesn’t have a greater cooling effect if it’s melted.
You could be onto something, dnooman - maybe the champagne/ice mixture has a freezing point below 0C, in the same way that an ice/salt mixture can be used to freeze stuff.
Incidentally, does nobody know how to spell “champagne” these days? Where d’ya get “champaign” from? The vineyards of Illinois?
Maybe they’re trying to show off their urbanaty?
I’m guessing that, in view of the cooling theory, a little bit of champers tipped into the bucket would indeed help keep the bottle cooler.
I base this on the fact that if the ice is still cubed, not much of it is actually touching the bottle itself, however if there is some liquid of a sort in the bucket it would help conduct heat away from the bottle and to the ice, as it would contact much more of the surface of the bottle
If this theory is correct, it would not have a appeciable affect on crushed ice, though.
Aw, I was going to post that. See what I get for getting in late?
Nice one.
I can only recall one movie where something like this happened, the classic Blues Brothers.
The bottle was tipped upside down and plunged back into the ice bucket after it was thoroughly drained. Kind of a signal to the wine steward that you have an empty.
Sparkling wines have no “crap,” not since the Cliquot house came up with a reliable process for riddling in the early 1800s.
I am obsessed. I have made calls. Friends are pestering people. I hope to have an answer, and soon.
This is not quite true; if you pour salt onto ice, forcing it to melt, there will be a significant uptake of heat because of the whole latent heat of melting thing. Not that I’m suggesting that Champagne causes the same effect.
However, it might be true that a little liquid in the ice bucket enables better thermal contact between the ice cubes and the bottle.
In my experience this is most definitely true. I usually chill my wine or champagne in a bucket of ice and some water (already chilled, from the refrigerator - wamr water from the tap wouldn’t do so well I’d imagine).
It’ll chill the wine faster than a refrigerator, for certain. Conduction is more effective than convection.
As alluded to by Chagto, this isn’t correct. While the ice in the bucket is going to be at 32 degrees (unless it’s just been taken out of the freezer), the air around the ice cubes will be considerably warmer, and there will be plenty of places where that air is touching the bottle. OTOH, if there is enough of the ice melted to make an ice bath, the bottle will be cooled much more effectively. As long as there is still a significant amount of ice left, the water in an ice bath will remain at 32 degrees while the environmental heat goes to melting the remaining ice, not heating the water. Since liquids take the shape of their container, the water will flow until it completely surrounds the bottle (or at least as much of the bottle as is submerged) such that the entire surface of the bottle is touching a substance (whether liquid water or ice) that is 32 degrees. As long as the ice holds out, this will cool the bottle more efficiently than one exposed to patches of cold ice and warmer air.
–Cliffy