More Gilded Age Champagne Etiquette

“Champagne should not be left in a refrigerator for several hours before being served, as it takes away its freshness.” –Champagne saucers were used in the Gilded Age, not champagne flutes or tulip glasses that one finds today. The champagne stirrers were used by women to pop the bubbles in the champagne, though champagne saucers, with their wide-mouthed bowls, were very helpful in that effort on their own. Either way, it wasn’t considered ladylike to burp or belch, so champagne was avoided by many women, as a rule.

It is often a mistake to frappé, for it takes both flavor and body from the wine, and none but a very rich, fruity wine should ever be frappéd. My theory is that for ordinary cooling of wine, it is not necessary to use salt, unless you are in a hurry. The salt intensifies the cold and makes it act more quickly. You get a speedier result. 

I should simply use above formula, omitting the salt. Champagne should not be left in a refrigerator for several hours before being served, as it takes away its freshness. In serving it, for one who likes it cold, the wine should be cooled sufficiently to form a bead on the outside of the glass into which it is poured. It is pretty, an the perfection of condition. – From “Society As I Have Found It,” by Ward McAllister

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