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Once I was celebrating the New Year on a ship somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We had a friendly crew, so an hour before midnight all the sailors, except for those who were on duty, were already sitting at the festive table.
It’s time to open the champagne. The chief mechanic volunteered to do this. To the surprise of everyone present, he opened the bottle with a glass.
The story was sent by blog subscriber Alexey.
What glasses to choose for champagne to open it with them
At first I didn’t believe my eyes. Once, and the cork, along with part of the neck, flew off to the side, almost hitting the navigator in the forehead. After a few obscene remarks of the latter, caused more by surprise than anger, we asked the mechanic one single question – how did he do it?
The sailor said that there was nothing difficult in this, the main thing was to choose the right glass, prepare the bottle and make the right effort. We started to figure it out.
Interesting fact! Even the hussars began to open bottles with glasses during the Patriotic War of 1812. True, then instead of a glass, a saber or saber was more often used.
With glasses, everything turned out to be simple. Here you only need to adhere to one rule – they must be more or less strong. For these purposes, standard champagne glasses or wine glasses are ideal.
How to prepare
So how do you prepare a bottle? It was the second question asked by the chief mate. The mechanic, who had already had time to drink some champagne, readily answered him.
To begin with, the bottle should be cooled. Say, this reduces the content of carbon dioxide in the wine and the bottle is easier to open.
Important! Don’t freeze champagne. Its temperature should not be allowed to drop below 6-8oC.
Naturally, after the bottle is taken out of the refrigerator and brought into a warm room, condensation forms on the glass. To prevent champagne from opening prematurely by slipping out of your hands and hitting the deck and other hard surfaces, the bottle should be wrapped with a thin cloth.
Perhaps the bottle should be shaken well before opening? It was one of our sailors who couldn’t resist asking.
The mechanic thought, shrugged his shoulders and said – as you wish. There is no fundamental difference here. If you want the champagne to shoot like an Aurora gun, you can shake it, if you don’t want it, don’t shake it.
Before opening the bottle, it is better to wipe the glasses with a dry cloth.
How to open champagne with just one glass
So, everyone held their breath when the sailor began to tell, and at the same time show how to open champagne in a new way for us.
First you need to find the seam running along the bottle.
Photo with a similar technique, found on the Internet
Yes, it turns out that the bottles are made from two halves, and not entirely. The joint, which is the place of their connection, can be felt with your fingers. The mechanic, a kind, well, or already slightly drunk soul, let each member of the crew feel this joint. To better remember – modestly explained the sailor.
The base of the glass is placed on the seam at a large angle. Next, several trial movements are made with a glass along the joint. Then the main blow, after which the cork should fly out, often along with a piece of glass.
Approximately at this angle the glass is placed
Note! Do not deliberately increase the force of impact at the moment the base of the glass comes into contact with the neck of the bottle. Movement must be uniform.
As our mechanic opens the bottle with a glass, I, unfortunately, could not shoot, but I just came across an interesting video on this topic on the net.
How beautiful to pour champagne
After several bottles of champagne had been opened in this way, the barman, scolding us obscenely for littering the mess in the mess, took our wine away.
At the same time, he said with a grin – If the mechanic taught you how to open champagne correctly, then I will teach you how to pour it correctly and not spill it on the floor.
Speaking the last words, the cook looked suspiciously at one of the sailors, who managed to pour half a bottle of wine on the floor. However, the whole crew was already looking askance at the sailor. Still, we would hardly have been able to run for an additive. Unfortunately, there are no shops in the middle of the Atlantic.
So the bartender got down to business. He, like a professional sommelier, took a glass in one hand slightly at an angle, in the other bottle and poured each half a glass of champagne. At the same time, the foam flew up beautifully to the edges of the glass. In general, for a minute I even felt like I was in a restaurant.
The bartender poured the next batch, on the contrary, holding the bottle high above the glass.
In general, that night more than half of the bottles were opened by the method suggested by the mechanic. He really impressed us a lot. Do you know how you can still open bottles of sparkling wine? Share information?
*Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health!