Definition: sabrer le champagne

It is more complicated to put it into practice successfully. You have to hold the bottle at an angle with your left hand, stretching out your left arm (for a right-handed person). Then, with your right hand holding the sabre blade upside down, make a movement from left to right close to the bottle to strike the bulge under the collar vigorously. If the blow is applied correctly, the neck of the bottle will break cleanly below the cork. At this precise moment, the bottle must be uprighted to collect the champagne. This is a dangerous exercise that requires skill and must be practised outdoors.
This tradition dates back to the fall of Napoleon I. The Russian army occupied Champagne. Imperial officers from the Cossack regiments raided the cellars. They emptied an unimaginable number of bottles, which they opened with a stroke of their sabres. Subsequently, it was the French hussars who perpetuated the custom.
Sabrage champagne never fails to impress. Sabrage perpetuates this tradition that comes to us from the hussars. During the Empire, the hussars invaded Champagne and, to save time, started the fashion of breaking the necks of bottles with the back of a sabre, hence the expression "sabrage".
This elegant gesture is now falling into disuse. To celebrate special occasions in style, don't hesitate to impress your guests with a sabre, or even a simple but large kitchen knife. As a precaution, simply scratch the glass under the neck beforehand. Then all you have to do is strike the neck sharply with the back of your knife.
However, successful sabrage requires following a few rules:
For successful sabrage, chill the neck of the bottle in an ice bucket (15 minutes) to harden the glass.
Choose the heaviest sabre possible, with a fairly short blade and a flat back.
Hold the sabre so that you are using the back of the blade (rather than the edge, which would suffer).
Hold the bottle (make sure it is well chilled) in your other hand, at its lowest point, after removing the wire cage.
Slide the blade, flat, along the entire length of the bottle neck. With a quick, vigorous movement, strike the ring sharply with the back of the blade.
The impact will break the wire cage clean off and, now a ring of glass encircling the cork, it will fly off with the cork in a wide arc, releasing the sparkling spray of champagne.
A few safety rules to follow:
Ensure that no one can be hit by the sabre or the trajectory of the cork.
Be in an open space, preferably outdoors.
Do not strike the neck of the bottle repeatedly.
If the first attempt fails, do not persist and open the bottle manually.
Be careful, sabrage can be dangerous, so take all the usual safety precautions.