Sabrage

A champagne saber is an instrument in the form of a saber to open champagne and sparkling wine bottles.

The heads of the bottles with this sword is also called Sabrieren. The term comes from the French ( saber = saber) and probably goes back to Napoleonic cavalry officers who allegedly opened the bottles with their sabers.

Implementation

To this end, the champagne saber with the cutting edge on the belly of the bottle one finger width above the label (which must not be touched ) is applied. At an angle of approximately 20 degrees of the sword is moved in a flowing movement to the bottle neck and strikes from below against the bead of the bottle head, preferably at the position where the longitudinal seam is on the transverse ridge. Here, the head of the champagne bottle with the bead and the cork is cut off. It can fly up to 20 meters. Any glass splinters are thrown away by the pressure of the exiting sparkling wine. In France, it is customary to label the severed head and cork with the date of the ceremony and keep the head for good luck. The experienced Sabreur opens the bottle with little loss of sparkling wine. Was founded the tradition of " sabrage " ritual with the Briquet saber by Napoleon after winning a battle during the Russian campaign in 1812.

Film

A well-known scene with the (intentionally clumsy executed ) Sabrieren a sparkling wine bottle can be seen in the introduction of the film Das Boot.