You may have read on our blog a week or two ago that our denomination is now producing sparkling Rias Baixas wines (but not here at Castro Martin). Of course, this is the time of year that we often ‘push the boat out’ and open a bottle of fizz that we might not normally drink, especially during these times of austerity. So whether you decide to drink a bottle of Champagne, Cava or even sparkling Rias Baixas over the holiday period, why not impress your friends and family by opening the bottle with a sabre!!!

OK, so a sabre is not necessarily the type of thing that you will have laying around the house, but any type of heavy knife will pretty much do the trick. As with all these things, not only is there a technique, but there is also a secret to doing this successfully – make sure that the bottle is extremely well chilled before you try. Put the bottle in your freezer for at least one hour – this will have the effect of reducing the pressure inside, and make the whole process a little safer.

Take the bottle out, and at the last moment remove the foil and wire completely. Tilt the bottle at an angle of 45° with the seam of the bottle on top. With the back of your knife blade run it sharply and smoothly up, along the whole length of the seam, so that the blade strikes the lip at the top of the bottle. If you’ve done it properly, the neck of the bottle will snap cleanly (yes, you will remove a small section of the glass too), and after the applause have subsided, you can enjoy your wine.

As a footnote, it is obvious that you should not point the bottle at anyone whilst doing this, and I would recommend that others stand well back, just to be on the safe side. Also, you should probably only attempt this with good quality wines, as they will use better quality, heavy bottles. Do not try this with your £4.99 bottle of Asti Spumante!

You may have read on our blog a week or two ago that our denomination is now producing sparkling Rias Baixas wines (but not here at Castro Martin). Of course, this is the time of year that we often ‘push the boat out’ and open a bottle of fizz that we might not normally drink, especially during these times of austerity. So whether you decide to drink a bottle of Champagne, Cava or even sparkling Rias Baixas over the holiday period, why not impress your friends and family by opening the bottle with a sabre!!!

OK, so a sabre is not necessarily the type of thing that you will have laying around the house, but any type of heavy knife will pretty much do the trick. As with all these things, not only is there a technique, but there is also a secret to doing this successfully – make sure that the bottle is extremely well chilled before you try. Put the bottle in your freezer for at least one hour – this will have the effect of reducing the pressure inside, and make the whole process a little safer.

Take the bottle out, and at the last moment remove the foil and wire completely. Tilt the bottle at an angle of 45° with the seam of the bottle on top. With the back of your knife blade run it sharply and smoothly up, along the whole length of the seam, so that the blade strikes the lip at the top of the bottle. If you’ve done it properly, the neck of the bottle will snap cleanly (yes, you will remove a small section of the glass too), and after the applause have subsided, you can enjoy your wine.

As a footnote, it is obvious that you should not point the bottle at anyone whilst doing this, and I would recommend that others stand well back, just to be on the safe side. Also, you should probably only attempt this with good quality wines, as they will use better quality, heavy bottles. Do not try this with your £4.99 bottle of Asti Spumante!