Yesterday, I posted about my visit with Sharon Cohn of Breathless Wines. It was a great visit, at the end of which we tasted through the very nice Breathless wines. What I did not mention in yesterday’s article, was the conversation that Sharon and I had about sabering.

After she had opened all the bottles and we had tasted all the wines, Sharon commented that she had wanted to have me saber a bottle (or two). She had apparently seen a few of the sabering attempts I had made before and had wanted to see it in person. As a sabering addict, this was potentially the worst thing she could have said–every time I see a bottle of sparkling wine opened conventionally, a small part of my dies inside.

A few sabering attempts for you.

My first:

With a Ganesha statuette:

With a bike wheel:

Well, there was no sabering at Breathless. There were literally millions of bottles of sparkling wine and nary a one decapitated ceremoniously (or otherwise).

A few weeks after I returned, I had already left for my trip to Europe, Sharon sent me a bottle of Breathless Rosé to sample at home. She also sent another package which contained a flattened baby spoon.

Huh?

Right, it was a flattened little baby spoon, that was made to celebrate the coming birth of Sharon’s first grandchild (I must say at this point that Sharon in no way looks like she is of an age that would indicate that she was about to become a grandmother). Sharon indicated that she wanted me to use the spoon to saber the bottle, and video it, so as to commemorate the pending birth.

I am never one to shy away from a sabering, but the spoon she sent was not very heavy, nor very large, two elements that are helpful when sabering a bottle of sparkling wine. She also sent but one bottle–I realized I had one shot, and I needed to make it count.

(Yes, it did occur to me that Sharon did not want any sparkling wine projectiles at Breathless, but was fine having me do it in my own home….)

So first, I practiced on another bottle. After a few quick swipes, Voilà! So, I figured sabering the bottle of Breathless was going to be a piece of cake. I was heading with the boys up to Sharon, Connecticut and I figured that would be a great spot to saber the bottle for Sharon Cohn (whose birthday, coincidentally, is today–Happy Birthday Sharon!). Well, here is how that went: