Bottle sizes
Quarter bottle 20cl
Half bottle 37.5cl
Standard bottle 75cl
Magnum 150cl (equivalent to two bottles)
Jeroboam 3 litres (equivalent to four bottles)
Methuselah 6 litres (equivalent to eight bottles)
Salmanazar 9 litres (equivalent to twelve bottles)
Balthazar 12 litres (equivalent to sixteen bottles)
Nebuchadnezzar 15 litres (equivalent to twenty bottles)

Any bottle larger than a jeroboam should be drunk within a year of purchase.

Champagne terminology
In order to qualify as true champagne, the wine has to come from the Champagne region of France. Everything else, technically speaking, is just sparkling wine, although it may be very good sparkling wine.

There are different levels of dryness in champagne and sparkling wines, depending on the amount of sugar added at the end of the production process. They are labelled as follows:

Extra Brut: the very driest, with no added sugar.
Brut: very dry
Extra dry: dry to medium dry
Sec: getting sweeter...
Demi-sec: ...and sweeter
Doux: the sweetest. Often drunk as a dessert champagne.

A champagne may be either vintage or non-vintage. Vintage champagnes are produced in exceptionally good years, and so are less common and correspondingly more expensive. The wine is aged for three years before release, and the year is printed on the bottle. It will have a more complex and fuller flavour. Non-vintage champagne is made from a blend of grapes from different years. It may still be very good, and won't be so astronomically expensive.

Tips for enjoying your champagne at its best
Q. How do I cool a champagne bottle in a hurry?
A. Fill a sink with ice and cold water and immerse the bottle for a minimum of ten minutes. The champagne will be cool enough to enjoy, but leave it for up to thirty minutes if you can.

Q. How do I serve champagne?
A. Make sure your champagne glasses are completely dry. You don't need to chill them. Tall, narrow glasses are better than wide, flat ones. Handle the bottle gently and don't jiggle it around, or it will be excessively bubbly and you are likely to lose a fair amount when the cork bursts off!

Q. How do I remove a champagne cork without losing any champagne?
A. Dry the bottle with a tea towel so that you can hold it firmly. Remove the foil cap while holding the cork with your thumb so that it doesn't shoot out before you are ready. With the towel over the cork, point the bottle away from you (and not at anyone else) and twist the bottle. You don't need to twist the cork. With practice, it is possible to ease out the cork with a gentle pop. Have a glass nearby, though, in case the champagne fizzes over!

Q. Can I reseal the bottle if there is any champagne left over?
A. You can buy special metal corks for resealing champagne bottles. This way, the fizz is good for about twelve hours.

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