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From: mue@gsf.de (Bernhard Muenzer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Spoon in Champagne bottle
Date: 22 Dec 1995 10:06:08 GMT

New year's eve is approaching, and with this increase in consumption of Champag^WMethode Champ^W^Wsparkling wine the old UL about preventing the bubbly liquid from going flat by placing a spoon in the neck of the bottle is bound to resurface again.

The classic reference debunking this myth is of course ftp://ftp.cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/urban.legends/food/spoon.in.champagne.bottle citing the French newpaper "The Republican Lorrain"(sp?) (17 March 1987).

I just found two new studies debunking this myth:

http://rulgm4.LeidenUniv.nl/preprints/spoon/spoon.html

uses apple cider as a substitute for Champagne (and a plastic spoon in a beer bottle in a previous experiment). However, they also cite a study using real Champagne:

M. Valade, I. Tribaut-Sohier et F. Panoitis, publiee dans Vigneron Champenois ( Pour la Science, marche 1995, 141).

I found this study via the Annals of Improbable Research homepage

http://www.improb.com/

Links to more research projects of interest to AFU can be found there, including a Twinkie Turing test and exploding pop tarts (complete with MPEG and Quicktime movies).