Sabering

[hollywood]

I've read about this. A friend says she saw it done in England once. Does anybody here have experience with this? Is it just a flashy waste of champagne?

http://www.lesabredorusa.com/Tutorial.htm#Insignias and Diplomas

[Schielke]

I've read about this.  A friend says she saw it done in England once.  Does anybody here have experience with this?  Is it just a flashy waste of champagne?

http://www.lesabredorusa.com/Tutorial.htm#Insignias and Diplomas

I have seen it done only on Television. Once on Iron Chef when the challenger was a Sommelier and another on the heavily overproduced show The Thirsty Traveller- champagne episode.

Looks neat, I think that is all.

Ben

[chefette]

I saw it in person at Schramsburg vineyard last summer when Steve Klc was in a guest chef seminar on champagne there and at the CIA. We were at a bar b q in the olive grove on top of the mountain at sunset and the owner drew a sword. We all backed up a good distance not sure what to expect and he just sabered the top off the bottle clean as can be. It was VERY cool.

Steve and his classmates had the chance to learn sabering and do it during the course. I will encourage him to post about it.

[Shermar]

I saw it in person back in the early 90's. It was a Moet anniversay year I think. In a restaurant they opened the bottles by sabre and poured champagne over about 100 coupes that had been stacked in overlapping rings almost to the ceiling. A sort of manual fountain effect. Outrageous! Using a sabre is a battlefield tradition we should bring back. On the hood of a Hummer maybe?

[GordonCooks]

Before attempting - score the neck of the bottle under the ridge.

[tommy]

seems like it would upset the champagne quite a bit. i've only seen it on TV, but if i recall, it almost always bubbles over. or perhaps there's a way to properly sabre.

[Ron Johnson]

I learned this technique in a wine class that I took several years ago when I was in the biz. It is really for show and does waste a tremendous amount of champagne, sometimes more than a full glass.

You need to take a small sabre or short sword of some type with some heft to it. It is the weight of the thing that helps. Hold the bottle in your non-dominant hand resting in your upturned palm with the neck facing away from you. Place the sabre blade against the bottle about three inches from the bottom and run it down the slope of the bottle neck toward the cork. Just as you make impact with the ring of glass that is at the top of the bottle neck below the cork (the ring that the wire cage hangs onto), make a downward flicking motion with your wrist and follow through cleanly with the motion of the sabre. It should all be done in one clean movement, firm but not too hard.

When the blade impacts the ring of glass below the cork, it breaks and the force of the accumulated pressure inside the bottle shoots the cork, cage and top part of the bottle neck away in a small geyser of champagne. It took me about five attempts to get it right.

It was kind of cool, but I have never felt compelled to repeat it.

[bigbear]

Well..... I have been waiting patiently for a mohel joke..... Nothing?.... (tap tap tap)..... I'm waiting.

[Lady T]

My late father was a bartender. He showed me how to saber a bottle of sparkling wine once, after telling me sternly never, but NEVER, to let him catch me doing that to a fine champagne. I admit it looks cool, but it does waste wine.

[Liza]

Well..... I have been waiting patiently for a mohel joke..... Nothing?.... (tap  tap  tap)..... I'm waiting.

What's an inch or two between friends?

[bigbear]

What's an inch or two between friends?

Could be everything.

[Wilfrid]

David Gower, the flamboyant but gifted English cricketer, tried this at a party for the visiting Australian cricket squad. Despite his brilliant timing and sure hand to eye co-ordination, Gower memorably showered his guests in broken glass.