If there is a traditional drink to toast and celebrate during Christmas, it is cava or champagne. And once everyone has toasted, many people place a spoon upside down in the neck of the bottle to prevent the gas from escaping. This is a common occurrence, which many continue to practice, but which in reality serves no purpose. The last expert to warn of this false myth was the food technologist Miguel Ángel Lurueña.
“It doesn’t work, CO2 is a fluid and it will escape anyway,” he said through his account on the social network in the refrigerator, because “the cold reduces the loss of volatile compounds.”
This recommendation is the same one that Ferran Centelles, one of the most renowned wine experts in the country, made in this article, where he also reviewed the reasons why in this way we manage to preserve the gas for longer, although once opened cava, it is inevitable that this will happen.
Like Lurueña, he recommends using caps that work with a valve system, which closes the bottle hermetically. In this way, the gas is maintained for longer (between 3 and 5 days, “since there is still no one that allows CO2 to last longer”).
Likewise, cold is also another factor that contributes to slowing down gas loss. “Most sparkling wines have between 3 to 6 atmospheres of gas pressure and their solubility allows them to integrate into the drink, so the colder they are, the more they will retain it. Once the bottle is opened, since the wine is not under pressure, the gas is lost, and the only way to try to minimize the loss is to reseal it,” explained Centelles.
So, if in the final stretch of the Christmas holidays you are going to toast with cava, remember to quickly cover the bottle with an airtight cap and place it in the refrigerator, and save the spoon for dessert.
