Is this champagne still good? - Need answer fast

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a couple of bottles of champagne (technically sparkling wine as they’re not from France) lying on their side in the bottom of the fridge. One is a very expensive bottle that I was given 3½ years ago* that I said I was going to save for a really special occasion. I’ve now got the occasion, but how long will champagne keep, in the fridge, on it’s side? Do I want to take it with me or is no longer good? How many years should one be able to store sparkling wines this way?

  • Since I was given it, it was free; however, the airfare & hotel to get where it was given to me was around $2m (where “m” = thousand since we’ve been through this before)
2

It will be fine. Pretty close to ideal storage conditions.

3

What he said. The cork can go bad, but you’ll know it pretty much immediately if it has.

4

It’s going to depend on the wine. All wine goes bad eventually. Some wine is made to consumed shortly after bottling, as it it’s at its peak, and will start to deteriorate quickly. Other wine will improve with age up to a point and then start to degrade.

If you really want to know, best to ask the winery it came from. If it’s a half-way respectable winery, they would know.

I think your wine should be fine, btw. As other have said, pretty good storage conditions. Let it warm up a bit before opening. 20 -30 minutes or so out of the fridge should do it. Wine that is too cold loses a lot of flavor.

5

It depends. Champagne doesn’t last as long as other things, but the only way to really find out is to open it…

If you share the labels and years (assuming this is Vintage), we can give you a more reasoned response.

Cheap champagne less likely to have lasted then more expensive, but even the good stuff goes bad.

You did have it stored in the fridge so your odds goes up. 3 years is a long-ish time for champagne.

I say drink it.

6

It’s probably bad. You can send it to me and I’ll let you know. :smiley:

No, really, I agree with everyone else; it’s probably fine. The only reason I’m posting is to add in that Champagne, unlike other wines, does not need to be stored on its side. It shouldn’t hurt it, but it wouldn’t be a big deal if it was left upright, either.

7

Don’t you still want to prevent the cork from drying out?

8

I think this is less of a problem with a champagne cork. It’s usually a composite cork and the lower portion exposed to the liquid is separated from the rest by a glue seal, and the middle portion of the cork is highly compressed and less porous than a regular wine cork. I think the tops are sturdier material also to keep them from breaking when opening.

9

Is this a whoosh? It’s been stored on its side for 3 and 1/2 years in a fridge, so unless the contents have suffered because of prolonged contact with the cork - unlikely in such a short timespan, but generally the humidity and CO2 in the ‘air’ in a bottle of sparkling wine means the cork stays moist, so storing upright or at a slight angle is optimum - it should be fine to drink.

*nitpick; Champagne comes from the Champagne region in France but many sparkling wines, made using the correct mix of grapes elsewhere, can taste just as good or better. ‘Correctly’ shaped glasses will also make a small difference.

10

We were just discussing what would happen if the bottle was kept upright. As you say, it shouldn’t make a difference.

11

If sparkling wine loses its carbonation, does it just become wine? And is it comparable to regular wine in taste?

12

I’m not sure it could lose the “sparkling” in a way that would not otherwise turn non-darkling wine bad. That is, an air leak that would then expose the wine to air.

13

In the reverse situation a friend of mine makes wine and then injects CO2 to carbonate it. Although I ain’t no professional oenologizer I can’t tell the difference.