chill champagne
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Serving Champagne at the right temperature can improve the taste of the wine...

How long should you chill Champagne for

It’s easy to leave chilling the Champagne as an afterthought, but it’s worth getting right at Christmas.

‘The best way to chill Champagne is in a bucket full of ice which takes about 10-15 minutes,’ said Clement Robert, sommelier at 28-50 Maddox Street. ‘For magnums, it’s about 25 minutes.’

If you need to hurry things along, Robert recommends using a lot of ice, plenty of rock salt and a little water.

‘The salt will melt the ice very quickly, the melted water being very cold and the Champagne will get chilled in less than 10 minutes.’

If you’ll be using your fridge to chill it, things will take longer – depending on the temperature of your fridge and how full it is – so plan ahead.

Chilling Champagne for Christmas

For lunchtime drinking on Christmas day, Decanter tastings director Christelle Guibert recommends putting it in the night before, ‘because the fridge will probably be full and it will take longer to chill.’

‘However, a quick way to chill Champagne is 20 minutes in the freezer – but don’t forget it as it could be a disaster!’

‘Wine sleeves are also very good and you should always have two or three in your freezer.’

If you’re travelling elsewhere for Christmas, but bringing the Champagne, Robert recommends using isotherm bottle bags.

‘They’re brilliant – and look for the ones where you can slide an ice pack on the side pocket.’

More Champagne advice:

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Ellie Douglas
Ellie Douglas
Digital Editor

Ellie Douglas is digital editor at Decanter.

She has worked at Decanter since 2013, when she joined as editorial assistant, then moving to the web team as assistant web editor in 2015.

Over her years at Decanter, Ellie has helped to significantly grow Decanter’s social media presence and with the launch of Decanter Premium in 2017.

She holds her WSET Level three in Wine, and in 2018 was shortlisted for PPA Digital Content Champion of the Year.