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Jim Rice Sabers Champagne


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Source: Eater NY

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Patrick Cappiello has made the saber the most fashionable wine accessory of the moment. He often opens bottles of Champagne with a knife edge at Pearl & Ash, where he oversees the wine program. Patrick has developed a regular following for his sparkling flourishes, and sliced open bottles pics are a frequently cast front and center on Instagram. Want to get in on the action this New Year's Eve? Patrick counts down his favorite sparkling wines to saber, for the upcoming holiday or for any day.

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10) Ca'dei Zago, Prosecco, Col Fondo, Friuli-Venezia, Italy: Light and refreshing, this ...

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While we don't have any of his picks at home, Jim is threatening to saber a bottle of bubbly tonight.  I don't know whether to be excited or ready to spend the night in the ER. :blink:

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Details!

Jim actually sabered two bottles on NYE. The first bottle took a few attempts before he got the blade at just the right angle. A nice *pop* and off went the top of the bottle with the cork. I took a video but the lighting wasn't very good. This was corrected with the next attempt. Using a headlamp, I was able to illuminate Jim and the bottle a little better. On the very first pass, he did it! The video is still a little dark but you can distinctly hear the pop as he cleanly sabers a nice bottle of Gruet.

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Jim actually sabered two bottles on NYE. The first bottle took a few attempts before he got the blade at just the right angle. A nice *pop* and off went the top of the bottle with the cork. I took a video but the lighting wasn't very good. This was corrected with the next attempt. Using a headlamp, I was able to illuminate Jim and the bottle a little better. On the very first pass, he did it! The video is still a little dark but you can distinctly hear the pop as he cleanly sabers a nice bottle of Gruet.

Very cool, Barbara, and nicely done, Jim!

No glass is broken, right?

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Very cool, Barbara, and nicely done, Jim!

No glass is broken, right?

Only if you do it badly.

We tried to saber a bottle of Aria but manged to mangle it.  We brought the bottle inside to see why Jim couldn't open it and noticed the neck was chipped and cracked.  When he grabbed the cork, it fell off the bottle and spewed all over the backsplash over the sink.  With the amount of chipped glass around the neck, we just tossed the contents down the drain.

Thankfully we had put three bottles of champagne in the fridge, you know, just in case we got really thirsty, so he got to saber the last bottle which is the one in the video.

One of the keys is to keep the sabering tool (he used the flat edge of a large kitchen knife) at a low angle, slightly raised from the side of the bottle.

This is the first bottle he sabered.

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And a word of caution, the neck of the bottle can be extremely sharp.  How do I know?  I reached into our recycle bin last night and just barely touched one of the bottles and cut my finger.

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Jim actually sabered two bottles on NYE. The first bottle took a few attempts before he got the blade at just the right angle. A nice *pop* and off went the top of the bottle with the cork. I took a video but the lighting wasn't very good. This was corrected with the next attempt. Using a headlamp, I was able to illuminate Jim and the bottle a little better. On the very first pass, he did it! The video is still a little dark but you can distinctly hear the pop as he cleanly sabers a nice bottle of Gruet.

It's a parlor trick, but an incredibly entertaining and fun one.  I am available for parties :D

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It definitely is. One of my sommelier buddies in France showed us that you can saber a bottle of Champagne with a spoon. It's all physics.

We did a bunch of bottles NYE using the back of a kitchen knife. Only one really broke, but that wasn't one of the ones I did...

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