Are you familiar with the art of opening a bottle of champagne with a sabre? Do you know how a cork opener works and how to use it? What are the must-have oenology accessories to enhance your tasting experience? Discover how to open a champagne bottle in style, using the right wine tools, in this short guide for champagne lovers.
How to Open a Champagne Bottle with a Sabre like a Master Sommelier
What better way to start a party and wow your guests than opening a magnum of champagne with a sabre! Want to give it a go? Let’s find out how.
First, choose a very chilled bottle of champagne. Don’t try to open a bottle of sparkling wine with a sabre because the internal pressure is not strong enough to produce the desired effect. If you don’t have a sabre, use a long knife with a smooth, sharp blade. Make sure you have some champagne flutes on hand to pour the champagne into as soon as you open the bottle.
Tutorial: Opening a Bottle of Champagne with a Sabre
For safety reasons, move far away from other people. Keep children in particular away from the sabre during the entire process. Make sure not to hurt anyone, including yourself. If you’re unsure about anything, stop and ask an experienced person for help.
Remove the foil from the neck to uncover the annulus and neck up to the bottle’s shoulder, to ensure that the glass is smooth. Carefully remove the muselet.
Then, hold the bottle with one hand (the one you won’t be using to hold the sabre), palm up, with your thumb lodged in the heel (the hollow base at the bottom of the bottle) and your other 4 fingers lying flat along the body.
Gently tilt the bottle, without shaking it, so that the neck is on a slight incline (approx. 30°), taking care to not aim it at anyone or at fragile objects.
Pick up the sabre or long knife with your other hand. Place the blade on the bottle’s shoulder, with the sharp edge towards the cork. Lock your wrist and hold the sabre or knife firmly. Now slide the blade towards the neck in a smooth and swift movement, without being too abrupt, gentle or slow.
When the blade reaches the end of the bottle, the cork should pop off, along with the top of the neck. Gently bring the bottle to an upright position and pour the champagne into a glass. Congratulations, you just opened a bottle of champagne with a sabre!
Practice makes perfect when it comes to mastering this movement and using the right amount of strength. A successful sabre stroke should only break the annulus (top part just beneath the cork) and not the bottle neck. The aim when opening a bottle in this way is not to spray foam everywhere, but to pour the first bubbles into a champagne flute.
A Cork Opener, or a Masterful and Elegant Tool
What kind of bottle opener can you use to open a bottle of sparkling wine? Introducing the little-known champagne cork opener, a discreet and refined sommelier tool used by many a champagne connoisseur.
Place this clever little wine tool on top of the cork to easily extract it in one go. The cork remains in your hand, rather than unpredictably popping out. The bottle neck also remains intact.
Opening a bottle of champagne is not necessarily a show of strength. Quite the contrary; this extraction method is particularly gentle. So, wow your guests with this magic trick before sampling a vintage grand cru of sparkling wine.
Opening a bottle without popping the cork, in a well-controlled manner, pays tribute to the light bubbles rather than the pressure of the compressed air. L’Atelier du Vin’s cork opener stands out for its curved design and beautiful chrome-plated metal finish.
Bubbles Celebration – Le Duo Champagne Flutes
Take your wine tasting experience to the next level with our collection of tools for every step. To open a bottle of champagne in style, you need to serve it in stylish champagne glasses.
Our Bubbles Celebration – Le Duo champagne flutes are hand-blown, unique and numbered creations. They add a festive touch to a world that is sometimes lacking in joy. This exceptional collection of sparkling wine glasses was designed by Monica Guggisberg and Philip Baldwin, two world-renowned master glassmakers. There is something carefree about their choice of shapes and colours. These flutes were designed to celebrate every moment of life… pure bubbles of happiness!
Must-have Accessories to Serve Champagne in Style
Finally, to open and serve champagne in style, you need these two accessories:
a Timbale champagne bucket, to keep your still or sparkling wine chilled, with the cachet of an authentic luxury ice bucket.
a Bubble Indicator stopper, with a pressure indicator (patented by L’Atelier du
Vin), to re-cork your champagne bottle and know how long you can continue to
enjoy it for.
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