Never buy one of these bottles

Here’s a picture taken in a supermarket near where I live.

They have a range of wine and spirits on sale and some of the more expensive bottles are displayed on shelves behind the check-out counter.

The idea of course, is to encourage people standing at the check-out to buy a bottle of their favourite drink that they see prominently on display, but my advice is never to buy any of the bottles, and definitely none of the champagne, that you can see at the right-hand side of the picture.

So what’s the problem? There are some reputable brands there. If you look closely, you can see Lanson, Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot – nothing wrong with any of those champagnes, you might say.

No, the problem is all to do with the way the bottles are displayed:

• They are right underneath the light in the recess of the shelf and
• They are right next to the window on the right of the photo and when the sun shines through the window, which it often does, the sunlight falls directly on to the bottles particularly the ones on the end of the shelf - exactly where the champagne bottles are.

This is the worst possible place to display champagne because the bottles are being hit with a double dose of light: electric light from the shelf and natural sunlight from the window

Why is this a disaster? Because of something called Goût de Lumière or Taste of Light.

This may sound bizarre, but it’s very real and you’ll notice it instantly if you ever have the misfortune to open a bottle of champagne that has been badly stored in this way.

The champagne will have a sort of metallic and rather bitter taste to it – totally undrinkable in my opinion and a  total waste of money.

The problem may not be so serious when it comes to bottles of spirits, but champagne is a delicate wine and very susceptible to damage, in just a matter of days, if the storage conditions are poor. Good storage means a dark place at a reasonably stable temperature (no highs and lows) and no strong odours.

The problem is exacerbated with champagne in clear bottles which, unlike green bottles, provide no protection from UV light, but that’s a topic for another blog post.

For now, please remember to avoid the Goût de Lumière.

All the best