When I’m opening a bottle of sparkling wine, my first desire is always to saber it. Sabering is a lot more fun than just twisting out the cork. Opening sparkling wine in the standard way, by twisting a bottle out of the cork, should produce no sound, maybe just a little “sigh”. When the bottle is sabered, the loud pop is expected, and the sparkling wine siphons out of the bottle – I hope you agree, this is lots more fun.
In the act of sabrage, the bottle is open with a small sword appropriately called the saber. This is how the typical saber would look:
I don’t believe I ever used the proper saber before, but considering the weight of it, it should be a pretty easy exercise – I used the chef’s knife successfully a number of times, works perfectly on the properly chilled bottle of Champagne or similar classic-method sparkling wine (it is all about high pressure of the liquid in the bottle).
This time around, I was opening the bottle of Cava, and encouraged by the Jeff’s latest success, I wanted to use some random object for sabering – so the steak knife was something I grabbed.
This is my beloved Laguiole steak knife, which is perfect for slicing the meat, beautiful and nicely balanced – however, it is very light. I was positive this will not work, but this is part of the fun! My first two strikes led to the glass starting to chip off around the neck, which lowered my confidence even further, but you can see this all for yourself here (apologies for the format of this video – a rookie mistake with the iPhone after not making videos in a while…):
As you can tell, it worked! Next time you will be opening a bottle of Champagne – have some fun with it. Cheers!
Summer is practically over, and the school is about to start, together with all the after-school activities and other busy things. Well, this is not the worst of the problems to have, isn’t it? Anyway, we should be talking about wines here, so let’s do that.
August is usually an interesting month with the wines, as August 31st is our wedding anniversary, which requires to kick it up a notch when possible. We didn’t drink anything insanely out of this world this past month, but there were quite a few of the very solid wines worth mentioning. As usual, this summary includes only 8- or higher rated wines – with some exceptions possible; many of the wines you see below were previously discussed in this blog, so this only serves as a summary post.
2007 Champagne Veuve Doussot Brut (12% ABV) – beautiful complexity of the vintage champagne – yeast, toasted bread, nice and elegant mid-palate weight, toasted bread on the palate. 8-
2010 Marco Sambin Marcus Veneto IGT (14% ABV, Cabernet Sauvignon 45%, Merlot 40%, Cabernet Franc 10%, Syrah 5%) – delicious from start to finish. Multilayered, complex and bringing lots of pleasure. 9
2011 Robert Storey Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley (14.4% ABV) – classic Cabernet profile, cassis, green bell pepper, eucalyptus, balancing acidity, medium to full body and firm tannins. 8-
2000 Primus Casablanca Valley Red Wine, Chile (14.1% ABV, 60% Carménère, 22% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon) – lots of pleasure which only aged wine can deliver. Very complex, rich, with great bouquet of herbs, spices, fresh eucalyptus, touch of cassis and earthiness, fresh. Had lots of life left in it. 8+
2008 Flam Merlot Reserve, Israel (14% ABV) – restrained and elegant. Dark fruit on the nose with a touch of espresso. Blackberries and touch of plumes with supple tannins and clean acidity on the palate, excellent balance. 8
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Somewhat unusual addition to the “month in wines” post – a short sabering video. I have done sabering (opening the bottle of the sparkling wine by hitting its top to create structural damage in the glass and to allow the internal pressure of the sparkling wine to break the top off – in a classic scenario, done with the sword) before, using the bottom of the Champagne glass. Then I had a number of fiascoes, breaking a few glasses and cutting myself. Then I was again inspired by the drunken cyclist sabering video, and while I didn’t attempt to use the golf club, I did it again (successfully) with the glass. Here is the video for you (the Champagne I’m opening is the one mentioned in this post, 2007 Veuve Doussot):
And we are done here. What were your wine highlights of the past month? What do you think of sabering – would you attempt it? Cheers!
I don’t believe I ever used the proper saber before, but considering the weight of it, it should be a pretty easy exercise – I used the chef’s knife successfully a number of times, works perfectly on the properly chilled bottle of Champagne or similar classic-method sparkling wine (it is all about high pressure of the liquid in the bottle).
This is my beloved Laguiole steak knife, which is perfect for slicing the meat, beautiful and nicely balanced – however, it is very light. I was positive this will not work, but this is part of the fun! My first two strikes led to the glass starting to chip off around the neck, which lowered my confidence even further, but you can see this all for yourself here (apologies for the format of this video – a rookie mistake with the iPhone after not making videos in a while…):
Talk-A-Vino 