Newbie champagne question

Since the options are fridge forever, good alliteration, bad plan, or try and see, I would opt for try and see. You may have heaven, you may have fairly flat and amberish liquid or other, but it won't kill you and as we know that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger, or some such thing ;-)

The long cold treatment retards aging so. . .

That said I had a 1992 Kristone at a friend's the other night, he stopped drinking so rather than give the stuff away a couple years ago, he gives it out slowly, suffice to say that provenance was non-existant (wine rack in kitchen) funky amber stuff that wasn't "bad" but far from good or even "OK"

If that's a real concern, just make sure you have a back up.

Yes, I did mean Dom Perignon. I received it as a gift from my boss whenever it was released, so it hasn't been in my refrigerator for quite as long as I thought :-) I also have a bottle of Veuve Cliquot (non vintage) available, but it's been around for a while, too. When it's just you in the house, you don't entertain, and your kids for the most part don't drink, finding an occasion for a good wine doesn't present itself often. I wish there were more splits available...or maybe there are, and I just haven't looked.