The BEST Champagne for Graduation Pictures
PLUS
I am a follower of the scientific method (loosely) and HUGE MythBusters fan. In honor of science and in the name of champagne, we are running an experiment. We're testing 5 champagnes to answer:
What is the best champagne for graduation pictures?
Before we get popping, we need to meet our contenders:
Meet the Champagnes
Shopping at our local Total Wine, we purchased:
1. Amour de Paris Brut Sparkling Wine for $6.49
2. Andre Brut for $6.99
3. Cook's California Champagne Brut for $7.99
4. Gemme Di Luna for $14.49
5. Angel Bomon Ruby for $16.49
My hypothesis: Andre and Cook's champagne will produce the most picturesque sprays. I've only used Andre and Cook's champagnes, so I am excited to see how Amour, Gemme Di Luna, and Angel rank against them.
Speaking of rank...
Each champagne will be graded on the:
Volume of the Spray: We want our champagne pop to be BIG! We're talking visible droplets spanning a large area in our photo.
Duration of the spray: We want long and loud sprays! Hooray!
Ease of opening: Does it take having long nails and Hercules' muscles to peel the foil and pry off the cork?
Bottle appearance: Does the bottle enhance the photo, or is it distracting?
TIP: Buy two to three bottles for your photoshoot. Just in case of misfire, one breaks, or you made a weird face in the first shot, HAVE EXTRA on hand.
Let's see the results!
How to Pop Champagne for Photos
To pop a champagne bottle for photos:
Remove the foil from the bottle. If your bottle has a cork, remove the cage, holding the cork in place with your thumb or whole hand.
Perform a "soft pop" by gently twisting the cork off. If your champagne bottle has a bottle cap, gently open away from you.
Place your thumb 50% over the mouth of the bottle.
Pointing the bottle to the right or left of the photographer, begin shaking the bottle up and down at a 45-degree angle. Keep shaking up and down as it sprays.
Soak in the excitement of popping champagne and graduating!
A few tips:
ALWAYS POINT THE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE AWAY FROM YOUR FACE, whether it has a cap or cork. We don't need a photo of you giving yourself a black eye!
Bring a towel or wipes - you're in the sticky splash zone, so be prepared to dry/clean off!
For location, choose to pop on a grassy or dirt surface. As mentioned, champagne is super sticky! We don't want others walking through stickiness on concrete, sidewalks, or other nonporous surfaces.
Champagne Pop Results
Let's compare the images to see how each brand performed:
Amour de Paris: 17/20
Volume of the Spray | 4/5
This gave a satisfactory spray, paralleling that of the Andre bottle spray.
Duration of the spray | 4/5
11 seconds - This champagne lasted a good while!
Ease of opening | 5/5
This bottle gave us no trouble while opening!
Bottle appearance: 4/5
This is the classic champagne bottle look, so if you're a fan of the gold and green, this is a winner!
Andre: 11.5/20
All that glitters is not gold... this perceived winner turned out to be the worst!
Volume of the Spray | 4/5
Second to Cook's, this Andre brut produced a wide and lengthy spray!
Duration of the spray | 3/5
8 seconds - This was one of the quicker bottles we shot off, meaning the spray time was relatively short.
Ease of opening | 1/5
No, we are not being dramatic with our score. This bottle is covered in a very hard-to-remove golden foil. It took Grace, me, and my camera assistant scratching off foil for five minutes to unveil the cork. Grace also had to have my camera assistant remove the very stuck plastic cork.
Bottle appearance | 3.5 / 5
This classic champagne bottle look is great, however, because of it's narrow base design, a lot of the bottle gets covered in photos.
Cook's California: 18.5/20
Good ol', reliable ol' Cook's!
Volume of the Spray: 5/5
BEST VOLUME of the bunch! Both in our videos and photos, it gave a FANTASTIC wide spray before dwindling to a single stream.
Duration of the spray: 5/5
11 seconds - Let me tell you, this spray felt like it lasted forever!
Ease of opening: 4.5/5
This was a relatively easy bottle to open. We only had a bit of a hiccup when it came to removing the cage (we think the metal got twisted a bit in transport).
Bottle appearance: 4/5
This is the classic champagne bottle look, so if you're a fan of the gold and green, this is a winner!
Gemme Di Luna: 15/20
Where this bottle lacks in spray performance, it makes up for in looks (baha, like my ex).
Volume of the Spray | 2.5/5
This bottle gave a good amount of spray. It didn't deliver quite how we wanted: It shot out as a single stream rather than the iconic wide champagne spray.
Duration of the spray | 3.5/5
11 seconds - This champagne lasted a good while despite not producing a super grand spray.
Ease of opening | 5/5
Grace had an easy time removing the wrap, cage, and cork on this bottle. Simple as that.
Bottle appearance | 5/5
The blue color added a cute contrast to the warm fall colors in the photos. Paired with any outfit or subject, it will 100% enhance the photo. Super on-brand for someone who loves a showy or colorful bottle!
Angel Bomon Ruby: 17.5/20
Volume of the Spray: 3/5
The volume was a bit disappointing, holding a steady singular stream opposed to a big spray.
Duration of the spray: 4.5/5
12 seconds - This spray lasted the longest of the group, earning some major props.
Ease of opening: 5/5
No issues opening here!
Bottle appearance: 5/5
WHAT A SURPRISE! The champagne is RED, so on top of the gorgeous red exterior, you've got a red bubbly surprise on the inside! This bottle adds the perfect pop of color to your photos.
The Best Champagne to Spray is...
Drum Roll, please!
Our WINNER:
Cook's California Champagne Brut
It's show-stopping spray, ease of use, and bottle design earn Cook's champagne the number one position! This is by far the best cheap champagne to spray.
Second Place: Angel Bomon Ruby
If Cook's is sold out in stores, you can count on Angel Bomon Ruby to do the job. With a solid spray range, magnificent bottle design, and stunning red champagne color, we give Angel Bomon Ruby the stamp of approval.
And, there you have it! No longer shall the answer for the finest popping champagne be a mystery! We declare Cook's California Champagne Brut and Angel Bomon Ruby as the best champagne for graduation pictures.
If you need a photographer to capture your senior photo spray the right way, we're here to help. Get a quote for your session HERE.
I know New Year's Eve is just around the corner, followed by senior season, so safe popping! I'm ready for ya'll to pop off during your graduation pictures!
Thank you to Grace for modeling, and Javier for assisting and capturing video!
