A bottle of champagne; you deserve it in times of celebration and you also need it in desperation to calm yourself down. Mastering the art of sabrage goes a long way into making the whole occasion momentous.
Why should you learn to saber a bottle of champagne? Well, learning to simply lop off the top of a champagne bottle with a saber shows everyone in your party that you know what a saber is, you know how to handle it and that they can rely on you to pop out the top of any champagne bottle without ending up standing in a bubbly puddle of useless wine.
Sabering might seem like rocket science at first but it’s actually a piece of cake. Here a simple tip for success: be confident when you uncork a champagne bottle and be willing to get rid of the tension in your arms.
Here’s how to do it
The following is a step by step guide on how to saber a bottle of champagne:
- Properly chilled champagne works best
Properly chilled champagne produces a cleaner ring of glass at the top after sabering the bottle of champagne. A good, simple way to achieve this is by turning the bottles of champagne upside down in a bucket of ice before the part begins (at least 20 minutes before sabering). Important to note, you are not necessarily cooling up the entire bottle, you are only interested in making the neck as cool as possible so the bucket of ice need not have a lot of ice.
- Remove the foils
Before sabering your bottle of wine, you must remove the foils surrounding the neck of the bottle.
- Remove the cage
Because you are in a party, you also need to remove the cage after removing the foils. The cage is composed of wires that secure the cork to prevent it from blowing up due to the pressure underneath. In most cases, there’s a lot of pressure inside the bottle. Ensure that you place your thumb firmly over the cork when you are removing the cage, just in case. After removing the cage, avoid pointing the bottle directly towards yourself or anyone else unless you want to take out an eye.
- Prepare for the strike
To prepare for the strike, hold the bottle firmly in your non-dominant hand. The best way to hold it is with the thumb on the punt. The rest of the fingers should provide support around the bottle while avoiding the top to keep your arm out of the saber blade’s way.
You should also locate the seam on the surface of the bottle. A typical champagne bottle has two seams running from top to bottom. For a good result, the strike should be made directly along either.
Now straight to it- Put the saber flat against the point where the neck of the bottle begins and then slide it fast and carefully towards the cork to hit the seam of the cork and voila! Your bottle of champagne is ready to serve.
Extra tips
Here are some extra tips for ensuring that your champagne sabering process is a success:
- The thicker the glass, the better
Thicker glass produces a cleaner, round top after sabering. Thicker glass is also less likely to cause a mess by breaking in unwanted regions. French champagne is known to have thick glass and is ideal for learners.
- There’s science behind it so chances for success are actually higher
A bottle of champagne is a ticking bomb that’s waiting to go off. This is because of the active fermentation happening inside the bottle which causes a build-up of carbon dioxide at the top. This carbon dioxide is about 650 kPa. This pressure has already done the work for you in the inside; yours is just to hit on the right spot on the outside using a saber.
- Clean towel for the job
It’s possible for things to go wrong when making the strike. It is advisable that you have a clean towel around the hand holding the bottle just in case there’s a pour that could ruin your party wear.
- The best tool for the job
The slow rapid movement of a sharp metal object always does the trick. You probably have seen it been done with the rarest objects but why go through all that trouble when you have a saber hanging around! There are many resources where you can buy a champagne saber and can add fun to your party.
