Our “socially-distanced” Summer Picnic and Prosecco is taking place on Saturday 22nd August 12-2pm at Beacon Park, Lichfield. You’d be very welcome to join us of course, but before you do, you’d better know what to do in the event of an “emergency” such as warm, flat Prosecco!!!
Mention bubbles and commonly the words Champagne or Prosecco will come up…Sparkling wine is increasingly popular and no longer only for the most special of times, Prosecco has become a commonly popped bottle ready for the weekend – a little bit of fizz to start the weekend with a sparkle.
Best served chilled – naturally … But what happens if you need a glass of fizz ASAP, but your bottle is warm? What’s the quickest way to the perfect temperature in no time?
To keep things simple, dunk a dish cloth in water and wrap it, still wet, around the bottle of wine you’re trying to cool. Stick the bundle in the freezer and wait as the cloth freezes to the bottle, speeding up the chilling process.
If you have an ice bucket to hand, there’s an even faster way to get your wine to drinking temperature. Fill half of the bucket with ice, add cold water and then – and here’s the real trick – a tablespoon of salt. The salt reduces the freezing point of the water, which means it can get colder without turning into ice.
Also remember to give your bottle a spin every few minutes. This method puts more of the wine into contact with the cold water, helping the whole bottle come down a few degrees just a little bit faster.
But what to do if your fizz is flat? It happens, you open a bottle of bubbly, pour a glass, and then life takes over and your bottle isn’t finished and you forget about it. When you rediscover it, hours or even days later, it looks flat.
Ladies…It’s time to get yourself a raisin…yes, that’s correct, a raisin.
Pour yourself a glass of your flat fizz, take a single dried raisin and drop it in. The remaining carbon dioxide in the wine should cling to the raisin’s skin and then, as if by magic, release itself into the wine.
Just like that, the fizz returns and your bubbly is bubblylicious once again.
The science … Carbon Dioxide is what gives sparkling wine its wonderful bubbles. Once the raisin is dropped in, any carbon dioxide will adhere to the raisin’s ridges, then release itself back into the wine as bubbles. And that’s when the fizz returns…your bubbles (and happiness) are restored!
It’s fair to say that while the flannel and salt trick definitely works, we can’t vouch for the raisin as we’ve never had any flat fizz left in a bottle to test it on!!!
Despite that ladies I’m packing a flannel and a box of raisins into my emergency party and picnic kit …just in case – Cheers!
Our Summer Picnic and Prosecco Event is taking place on Saturday 22nd August 12-2pm at Beacon Park, Lichfield. Social distancing rules will apply and you are most welcome to join us. See our Events page or call Louie on 01543 409489 for more information.