Every time you open a bottle, pour a glass, and recap it, some dissolved CO₂ leaves the wine to fill the enlarged headspace. This calculator lets you explore exactly how much. The same physics applies to Champagne, sparkling wine, soda, beer, and any other carbonated beverage.

In the calculator below, you start with a full bottle of Champagne at 40 F and 65 psi pressure of CO₂ in the headspace. Pour a glass and recap the bottle, and see what the new equilibrium pressure will be. Hint: it will be lower. And that's why the Perlage System is better than a cap or a stopper.

Notice what happened? Every pour increased the headspace, so more CO₂ had to leave the wine to establish a new equilibrium. The pressure fell a little each time, and with it, the amount of dissolved CO₂ remaining in the Champagne.