Monitoring the losses of dissolved carbon dioxide from laser-etched champagne glasses.

Abstract: Both losses of dissolved CO2, and fluxes of gaseous CO2 escaping from a Champagne wine served in laser-etched INAO glasses showing an increasing number of bubble nucleation sites, were examined, all along the first 10min following pouring. Logically, the more intense the effervescence is into a glass, the more rapid its progressive loss of dissolved CO2. Moreover, during the first minutes following pouring, the higher the number of laser beam's points of impact is in glasses, the higher the fluxes of gaseous CO2 escaping from the champagne surface. Nevertheless, and quite counter intuitively, from approximately 3min after pouring, the highest levels of gaseous CO2 fluxes escaping champagne were not sustained from glasses with the highest number of bubble trains. This experimental observation was discussed on the basis of a theoretical bubbling model. It was finally demonstrated that the flux of gaseous CO2 desorbing from the liquid phase is the result of a balance between the intensity of effervescence, and the dissolved CO2 concentration found in champagne. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]