by Bruce Schaefer

We belong to a wine club in VA that meets each month to consider such imponderables as the difference between cabernet and chardonnay.  In May, the subject was sabrage, the art of extracting a champagne cork with a sword.

The art was perfected by Napoleon’s officers, we are told, and is passed down to us thru the years by a secretive cult of wine warriors who lurk in the shadows and are outed only when they trip on their swords and cut themselves.

The trick is quite simple. Holding the bottle at a 45-degree angle, turn the bottle till a seam faces you (there are two, on opposite sides of the bottle). Place the BACK of the blade (you can use a kitchen cleaver if you don’t have a sword; most of us don’t) against the bottle a few inches from the bottom, angling the blade up to face your eyes. And slide it briskly but not too strenuously up the side of the bottle to hit the bulge at the top of the bottle below the cork.

The top breaks off and flies 20-30 feet in front of you, NOT from the force of your blow, but from the carbon pressure within. A bit of champagne flows behind it, ensuring you won’t be drinking broken shards or ground glass. It’s perfectly safe and simple. Makes a great parlor trick, believe me.

Watch closely now, I will show you:

Practice on a bottle of Andre, retail about $5 a bottle. This also works with Martinelli cider.

btw – your kids can do it!