Sabrage
 
The time honoured art of "Sabrage" or "Le Sabrage" or "Sabre à Champagne" (Opening a bottle with a sabre) is the most traditional way to open a bottle of Champagne. Dating back to Napoleonic days it involves using a sword to cleanly slice the end & cork off a bottle. The technique does not specifically involve extracting the cork, but actually removing the whole top of the bottle. The art is still practiced today in public as well as traditional organisationa including the Military.
 
History of Sabrage
 
There are many stories on how the tradition of sabrage started. One of the most spirited, is that during Napoleon's time, Madame Clicquot who was Mistress of the Veuve-Clicquot Champagne house had a habit of entertaining soldiers at her vineyards. Upon leaving, she gave them bottles of Champagne. As the soldiers rode off on horseback they were unable to open the bottles, so whilst keeping control of the horse they drew their sabres and beheaded the bottle with a stroke of the blade.
 
 
Method of Sabrage
 
The club takes no responsibility of any of the following instructions, and believes that sabrage should only be conducted by persons properly trained and recommend caution unless you are experienced at the art.
 
1) Slowly chill and rest the bottle and the neck evenly for at preferable 24Hrs beforehand, miniumum of 4 hrs.
2) Remove the foil and the muselet.
3) Look for the seam in the bottle, place the sabre edge against the seam just below the shoulder of the top
4) Hold the bottle at 40 degrees away from yourself, with clear space in front
5) Sweep the sword briskly and firmly across the bottle to the cork neck in a swift motion.

Note: The sabre doesn't actually chop the end off. When it slides down and strikes the lip on the neck of the bottle (annulus), it causes the end & cork to separate from the neck.
 
 
Sabrage by the Club
 
The Club has an extensive collection of Sabres, each requiring a different technique to perform Sabrage. The Club has sabraged hundreds of bottles and taught many people, using sabres from various makes including the Canard Duchêne 100th Anniversary Briquet Sabre, a replica of the French Sabres used at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, which was created in 1968 for the Centenary de la Maison.
 

 
The Sabraged bottles pictures below left are some of the Bottles Sabred on the Club's 1st Anniversary, where The President Sabred in turn, a Piccolo, a Demie, a Bottle (actually many bottles were done on the day!), a Magnum, a Jéroboam, and finally a Methuselah (The Equilivant of 8 bottles in One). On the right are some of results from the hundreds of bottles that have been sabraged.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To buy your own Sabre à Champagne, Champagne Sword please go to:
 
The Champagne Lounge
 
 
 
 
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