How to: Saber a Champagne Bottle

If there was ever a time for opening a champagne bottle with a sword, the holidays is that time. You don’t actually need a sword – a chef’s knife will do – but I figure this is just one of those things a man should know how to do. And since this is also the season of fizzy, corked bottles of sparkling cider and grape juice, you can snag a few more affordable bottles to practice without having to waste any bubbly. 

The team at Bon Appetit share all the details: There is no way to open a bottle of Champagne that’s more fun or dramatic than sabering, the act of taking a large blade (or, you know, a chef’s knife) and, though the magic of physics, popping off the cork with one smooth motion. No one sabers more bottles than Patrick Cappiello, the Wine Director and Managing Partner at Pearl & Ash in New York City….The guy makes it look effortless. As it turns out, it’s so easy to do that anyone can pull it off—even at home. Watch our video for Cappiello’s step-by-step sabering tutorial and, of course, a ton of slow motion Champagne sabering porn.

This is about to become a staple at all my Christmas celebrations. And New Years. And Thanksgivings. And…oh, Tuesdays.

How to Saber a Champagne Bottle [BonAppetit.com]