THE CHAMPAGNE CHICK

With little more than a month to go until International Sabrage Day, there’s ample time to dust off those sabres and start practicing your moves.

It all started back in 2018 when I wrote a post about the Art of Sabrage  and realized there was an International Day for just about everything, except an International Sabrage Day, promptly declared that we needed one and International Sabrage Day was born, taking place on the 3rd Friday in May every year, falling on Friday 15 May this year. Basically taking the form of how Global Champagne Day initially started as a virtual celebration, it is a day where we would love everyone to sabre a bottle and post to social media using the hashtag #InternationalSabrageDay.  It has gained nice momentum since we started, with more and more people posting their sabrage moves every year.

As you know, you can pretty much sabre a bottle of champagne with anything from a kitchen knife to an iPhone.  It is not about the sharpness of the object, but more the impact that is important.  A sabre is made specifically for opening champagne, some have short blades, others much longer, it really is immaterial and it is generally the blunt side of the sabre that is used.

Sabrage has to be the ultimate party trick, and it really is not as hard as it looks.  Probably the most important, is for the bottle to be perfectly chilled, if it’s too warm you are going to have an explosion on hand.  Equally as important is to make sure that you are right from the beginning pointing the bottle away from any people (or windows for that matter).  Remove the entire neck foil from your bottle and then untwist the cage, you can keep it on or remove it entirely.  If you keep the cage on make sure it is completely untwisted.  Keep your bottle still from this point on as sudden movement can cause the cork to shoot out.  Next, locate the seam on the bottle, there are 2, one on either side.  Slide your sabre up along the seam to impact with the neck of the bottle in a smooth movement with gentle impact, do not chop or hack, and the cork and collar should simply pop off.

A clever way of making sure the top of the bottle does not fly off and injure anyone, is to tie a long piece of ribbon to the lip of the neck or the cage if you’re keeping it on, with the other end tied to your wrist.

As I’ve mentioned, you don’t need to invest in a sabre, you can use a hefty kitchen knife if you don’t have a sabre, but if you want to get yourself one, they are available almost everywhere and anywhere from the more traditional Napoleon-esque sabres to modern, sleek ones.

I bought the one above on one of my trips to Champagne, most of the boutiques I visited in Reims and Epernay stocked them.  It was inexpensive and it works like a charm.  My current favorite, is the exquisite Vagnbys  Champagne Sabre.  It is crafted in molded and forged mirror-finish stainless steel and is perfectly weighted.

For international orders, you can email Vagnbys – info@vagnbys.de – for a stockist near you.  You can also follow along on their Instagram  for more info.

In South Africa, you can get your sabre from Vagnbys South Africa here.  There are also a number of other online sites and retailers such as Makro, Loot, Takealot and Zando that stock it.  Again, you can hop onto Vagnbys South Africa’s Instagram  or Facebook  for more links and info.

So, just to recap … Friday 15 May 2020 is International Sabrage Day.  Sabre a bottle, or 2 or 3 and share your pictures to social media.  Don’t forget to use the hashtag #InternationalSabrageDay.  I can’t wait to see everyone’s moves

Pop, Fizz, Clink
The Champagne Chick
xo