Looking towards the optimism of the holidays and the celebrations associated with them, I think of Saberage – a traditional method of celebration. Saberage is the art of opening a Champagne or Sparkling wine with a saber or sword. It is believed to have begun after one of the battles held in Champagne, France during the Franco Prussian War. Madame Veuve Clicquot made it a point to send the soldiers off with a bottle of her Champagne to celebrate winning a battle. Napoleon has been noted in historical publications as saying, "in victory one deserves Champagne and in defeat, one needs it". Napoleonic soldiers fought with sabers on horseback and if you can imagine, it would be difficult to hold the reins to your mount while trying to remove the cork from a bottle of Champagne. Another belief is that the soldiers sabered their bottles in order to impress the young rich Champagne widow.

Today, Saberage is done as a way to launch the celebration of marriages, engagements, birthdays, holidays, and most notably ringing in the New Year. It is very dangerous and should be performed only by a person that has been properly trained, so save yourself from losing a body part and leave this up to the professional. I have sabered many bottles after being properly trained and, knock on wood, have had no disasters. I have however, heard a few horror stories such as hands cut, shattered keepsakes from flying debris, and the worse one was the cork flew across the room and shattered a $3,000 bottle of Cognac.

Saberage is a wonderful way to celebrate, but celebrate by watching and not trying. My next saberage will be to usher in 2010 unless someone requests my services beforehand. Come join us on New Years Eve to see sabering in action. ◊