The Story on Sabering: How to Saber Your Wine

If you’re a proud member of the wine-drinking community, it’s likely you might have seen your favorite sommelier whacking at the neck of a Champagne bottle with a chef’s knife, carving knife or whatever sword-like implement is most easily obtained in a common kitchen. Ask what they’re up to, and you’ll find out that the wine did not, in fact, wrong them in some way; instead, they’ll tell you they’re “sabering” the wine. Stand back while they have a go at it.

Why do they need to open their wine with a weapon? The truth is they don’t, but it’s tradition, and as with most traditions, it’s a bit silly. This tradition is called sabrage. Sabrage is the act of utilizing a saber (or other handy and dangerous tool) to ceremoniously open a bottle of sparkling wine made in the Champagne method. At the right angle, sliding a heavy blade down the neck of the bottle toward the cork and allowing it to hit the collar of the bottle with a bit of force will snap the glass cleanly, causing the cork to shoot across the room with a pleasantly hedonistic pop and a froth of fizz. A concentrated point of stress at the bottle’s collar combined with the high pressure created by the wine’s bubbles make the technique possible. It’s messy (and silly, as mentioned), but boy is it fun.

The History of Sabering

The technique has seen a recent rise in interest from the young sommelier set, but its history dates back to Napoleonic times (though it’s unclear who first realized it’s an awfully good time to send your bubbles flying across the room). During the French Revolution, the saber was the weapon of choice in the French army’s cavalry forces, and Napoleon and his troops were known for their love of Champagne in both celebration and defeat. While the verity of the stories can’t be confirmed, they’re certainly enthralling: A favorite has Napolean’s brutal Hussers charming a young and widowed Madame Cliquot with their displays of bubbly brute force while guests at her opulent estate.

Today, the iconically French tradition is kept alive by a formal order called the Confrerie du Sabre d’Or, or the Brotherhood of the Golden Sword. Though no Confrerie exists yet in the US, France, Britain, Malaysia, and Italy are all home to orders of the unique group (which does, despite the name, accept female members). Should you decide you’d like to be officially up for waving a sword around while imbibing, it’s around $50 for a certificate and a ceremony that gets you in the club. Disclaimer: Senior members of the Confrerie don funny gold and green bowler hats with Musketeer-esque capes. Just so you know what you’re in for.

How to Saber Your Bottle

While being a member of such a club is likely money well spent just for the bragging rights (and capes, if that’s your sort of thing), you can still play along at home even if you’re not visiting any of the aforementioned saber-friendly countries. Want to give it a go? Here’s the order of operations:

1. Procure a bottle of Champagne, or a sparkling wine made in the Champagne method. The practice won’t necessarily work on sparkling wines made in the charmat or ancestrale methods since the pressure in the bottle tends to be lower. (And really, if you’re going to do it, you might as well really do it.)

2. Procure a sharp, heavy, bladed instrument. It could be a good quality chef’s knife, or one of those swords you have lying around.

3. Make sure the Champagne is really, really cold. You don’t have to put it in the freezer, but 15 minutes won’t hurt. The colder the wine, the less you’ll lose on impact.

4. Being sure to point the bottle away from your face and the face of any other people/animals/expensive clocks in your vicinity, remove the foil (all of it) and the cage from the cork. Discard.

5. Grip the bottle by the punt, with your thumb inside and your fingers extended toward the neck. Do not wrap your fingers around the bottle.

6. Hold the bottle horizontally at arm’s length and point it away from humans, animals, and Ming vases.

7. Arrange your blade so it’s flush with the bottle’s collar. The blade should be parallel with the floor and at a 45 degree angle with the bottle.

8. Run your blade along the seam of the bottle. Keeping the blade parallel to the floor and at a 45 degree angle to the bottle, do a few gentle practice runs before you really nail it, just to get a sense for the motion. You’ll want to hit the collar as you extend the blade from the base of the bottle to the neck.

9. Go for it!

10. Didn’t work? The key here is a little bit of finesse. If it doesn’t work the first time, check the angle of your blade, and don’t be shy with the force. You’re not trying to shatter the thing, but it can take a little power. Many pros swear by a little flick of the wrist just on impact with the collar (it does seem to work).

11. Did it work? Congratulate yourself for a job well done!

12. Wipe the neck of the bottle, being careful to check for any stray shards of glass. Before drinking, you should also check the first glass poured.

13. Drink and enjoy!

Tip: Sabers aren’t just for Napoleon’s cavalry. Plenty of online retailers feature sabrage-specific swords for your bottle-popping pleasure. They range from around $199.00 for a basic steel model to around $2,800.00 for a luxury set boasting a 24K gold handle, custom engraving, and a velvet-lined oak box.

Sabrage Demonstration

If you’d like to see a visual demonstration on the sabering process before you (very, very carefully) try this at home, check out the video below.