5 Best Tips for Sabering Sparkling Wine

Hugh Davies sabering in Sun Valley Washington

Opening a bottle of sparkling wine is as easy as popping a cork. For something a little more festive and exciting, try sabering. Provided of course that it is sparkling wine, “Every bottle is saberable,” says Hugh Davies, the second-generation proprietor and CEO of sparkling wine house Schramsberg Vineyards. Davies has sabered hundreds of bottles. While sabering is no secret – Schramsberg runs Camp Schramsberg twice a year to help sommeliers and everyone else learn the technique – doing it right the first time is important. Plus, it’s a technique that can only be used with wines under pressure and somewhat chilled. When done right, the bottle lip pops right off, and no one gets hurt. Let Davies be your guide to a perfect saber.

Davies, the youngest of three boys, learned to saber in his teens, a rite of passage for children who grow up around bubbly. Building a career around the family business kept him sabering since then. He’s learned a few tricks along the way.

A Cold Bottle is Key

Perhaps most importantly, “you want a cold bottle,” Davies says. “Aim for around 35 degrees Fahrenheit.” Some professionals suggest putting the neck of the bottle in ice; Davies recommends keeping the neck out of the ice and, if you are in a cold climate, don’t put the bottle outside where it can freeze. Keep the lip of the neck of the bottle up and out of the ice, everything else in the ice. The correct temperature limits the pressure so there is a little gas but not a “boom,” Davies confirms. “You don’t want the bottle to pop, you want the lip to snap off.”

Correct temperature also helps prevent the neck from becoming too cold, reducing the risk of chipping off the bottle lip (the ridge near the top of the bottle) instead of the top of the bottle. By not over-chilling the skinniest part of the bottle, you increase the likelihood of successful sabering with one stroke, Davies’ ideal. “You don’t want more than two attempts,” he confirms. “More than that adds risk. Don’t hack at a bottle.” When working with magnums or even bigger bottles, Davies recommends putting the bottle in an ice-filled container – a wine bucket for a magnum, a trash can for a methuselah – but not covering the neck.

Apply Pressure in the Right Place

“How to saber a bottle of champagne” by fritish is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Once the bottle is the right temperature, sabering so the bottle top snaps off in one stroke is a matter of applying pressure to the right part of the lip of the bottle. Wine bottles have a vertical seam that comes up and hits the lip, the lip also has a little seam where it attaches to the bottle. There is a sweet spot there, a logical – not random – place where the glass can be broken. “If you hit that spot,” Davies says, “it will snap right off.” If you’ve chipped off a bit of the lip at the seam on the first pass, Davies recommends rotating the bottle to find another suitable spot. Speaking of pressure, Davies explains that, “You can’t just cut through glass – you need a little pressure inside the bottle. Sabering can be done with sparkling wine but not a still bottle of wine.”

Don’t Swing for the Fences

Sabering Winemakers

Sabering can be done with any number of pressurized bottles. And it can be done with reasonable consistency. Keep the bottle at a 45-degree angle to the ground and the saber at a 45-degree angle to the bottle. Run your blade up the bottle’s seam – don’t stop at the lip. As you move your arm, think of the movement and force as – to use a baseball analogy – a base hit swing, not a home run swing. Swing through the ball – run through the lip of the bottle.

Keep the Gawkers Behind You (Safety First)

“Saber vs. Champagne” by Patti Roll is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Opening a bottle with a saber has inherent risk, as you are handling blades and creating broken glass. There is some risk. There is pressure itching to push that cork out of the bottle. But there is no longer a cage or your hand holding it in place. Sabering is performative but keep audience safety in mind. Step to the edge of the crowd and saber in the direction away from the crowd. Davies has sabered off of balconies and rooftops and off of docks and boats. “That is always fun but inevitably, there is someone with a camera who is standing right in front of you.” (He asks them to move behind him.)

With a good saber, the bottle top comes off in a nice clean break and you have just that one flying object. An improper saber, however, will typically break off a ring of glass (the bottle lip) that stays attached to the cork when it flies out of the bottle. The risk here is a few shards of glass coming off with the lip. And, when pouring from an improperly sabered bottle, the bottle mouth is razor-sharp. Davies says you don’t have to worry about glass falling back into the bottle as the sabering will have flung it out.

Davies has seen bottles blow because they are not cold enough. A manufacturing flaw with a bottle can also be a problem but that typically happens where fermentation takes place, in the stacks. In a worst-case scenario, the bottle blows up, wine and shards go everywhere, and the saberer is left holding a bottle stub.

Choose the Correct Tool

A firm, flat-edged object is ideal to use as a saber. Stay away from soft, bendable blades. Davies recommends Laguiole sabers and has sabered with old bayonets. “Those are fun,” he says, “but a small knife will work, too. I’ve even done it with the base of a wine glass but that’s not ideal.” There are champagne pullers that offer additional leverage. Running a bottle’s neck under hot water for 30 seconds can help expand the glass just enough to loosen the cork. Keep in mind that, the bigger the bottle, the bigger the blade. But the same “no hacking” rule applies. If you’ve given it two tries, move on.