Steps On How To Open A Champagne Bottle

You’re opening your first champagne bottle in front of your friends and you think “should I do it the way that the waiter opened it, at that restaurant last week?” “or should I open it like how my dad did at social events?”. But all you want is to open the bottle in a safe and cool way. Good thing that there are 3 common ways to open a champagne bottle: The Rocket, The Execution, and The Whisper. We show you how to do all of this down below.

The Rocket

The Rocket is a fun method to do at parties and social events. This way you let the Cork fly and you’ll get an explosion of Champagne right after the cork jumps into the air. Depending on how much champagne you prefer spraying out, it could be lucky… or unlucky for you!

To perform The Rocket:

• Remove wrapping from the head of the bottle
• Prepare to launch the champagne cork, get your strongest, dominant hand and wrap it around the belly of the bottle and remember to point the bottle where you want the cork to fire. You do not want a broken window!
• With a firm grip on the bottle, use your other hand to open the metal cage, untwist the tip without having to hit the cork out when taking off the cage. Once you’ve removed the metal cage, you are ready to launch your rocket. The cork could very easily fly off the bottle when you’re removing the cage. Therefore, remember to open the cage carefully.
• When removing the cork from the bottle, don’t place your hand over the cork. Grip the lower half of the cork, so when it starts loosening up you can let go quickly. You can then bring your hand down to the neck of the bottle.
• If the cork is not loosening up and shooting out, you can always give it a big twist and hopefully, it will pop right out. Just make sure the cork is pointing away from people or anything fragile.

The Execution

Sabering a bottle is one of the most extreme ways to open champagne. This method is dangerous, yet fun. People love the rush and thrill of that method, but don’t worry, there shouldn’t be any problem if executed properly.

1. Take off the wrapping from the head of the bottle.
2. You then hold the bottle at an upward angle. If you want to be exact, a little higher than 90 degrees would be good.
3. Make sure that the champagne is pointing nowhere near people. Since not only is the cork going to fly out, but also some glass may as well.
4. You pick your blade, whether it be a table or kitchen knife, it doesn’t matter. Since you’re going to use the back of the knife, it doesn’t need to be sharp or big. But if you don’t want to downplay the excitement of the people, you can go for the sharp one, just be careful.
5. On the neck of the bottle, you can see a line. Every champagne bottle has it. Remember that the line is the target you need to hit to perform The Execution.
6. After finding the line, take the bunt side of the knife and place it on the line. Lift the knife and get ready to stick. While the bottle is resting at an angle on your hand, you hit the line, and no need to be concerned about how hard you hit it. If you don’t get it the first try, do it again with a bit more force and remember to not get annoyed if it still hasn’t come off a couple of hits later. Just keep trying and don’t hit the champagne on any other surface because that will break the whole bottle.
7. After sabering the champagne bottle, be wary of the broken top since it can be sharp and harmful. Don’t drink from the bottle but pour it in a glass instead. Don’t be worried about glass bits in the champagne since the bottle was at an angle during The Execution.

The Whisper

It is the easiest way to open bottles of champagne. This technique is controlled compared to others and is minimal in the splashes department. Here’s how to do it:

1. First things first you remove the wrap from the top
2. Put your dominant hand on the cork and neck of the bottle, hold the bottle down with your other hand.
3. Untwist the metal cage but don’t take it off until the cork comes off first.
4. Then, you can put the bottle on a table or in your hand. Put the less dominant hand around the belly or base of the bottle. If you have taken the champagne out of an ice bucket, don’t forget to dry it beforehand.
5. Afterward, you will slightly tilt the bottle towards your dominant hand. Using your dominant hand you will then hold on to the cork and with your other hand will start twisting the bottle (you will have to put some force into it). While twisting the cork, you will hear a small hissing or whisper sound. This means that the bottle is opening and the cork is about to come off.

And here you have it, the 3 best ways to open a champagne bottle. Knowing these techniques will show confidence and professionalism. It’s a good skill to have and will come in very handy during your next party or social event.