We’re ringing in the new year early at the WineCollective office today! To toast the last week of 2012 and our amazing year, we celebrated with bubbly. (Fortunately, we had a chilled bottle of Adami Garbel Prosecco on hand.)
Naturally, the celebration called for a bit more flair than usual; we decided to saber the bottle.
If you’re not familiar with the practice, sabrage is the process of opening a bottle of Champagne (or Prosecco in our case) with a sabre. We used a butter knife, and any flat, hard edge will usually do the trick. For a complete tutorial on the art of sabrage:
“…calmly lay the saber flat along the seam of the bottle with the sharp edge (either side works as well) ready to slide firmly against the annulus (glass ring) at the top. Your firm sliding of the saber against this ring is aided by the internal pressure of the bottle, so that the cork flies dramatically away and usually with one stroke of the sword.
When performed correctly, as noted above on a suitably chilled bottle of Champagne, the cork and glass ring will fly away, spilling little of the precious wine and leaves a neat cut on the neck of the bottle. Now, the Champagne is ready to be enjoyed. Not to worry, the internal pressure (100 psi) of the Champagne bottle always ensures that no glass falls back into the bottle making it safe for consumption.”
Cheers!
(CEO Matthew taking over after I loosened it for him.)
Like many of you, we’ll be saving the Champagne for midnight on the 31st, but we welcome your thoughts on sabrage techniques, and your Champagne for the new year.
Thank you for a fantastic 2012, wine lovers, and we look forward to sharing great wine with you in the new year!