There's a restaurant here in Portland where they will, on request, open the bubbly with a sabor. But, they then insist on serving through a strainer. I am told that it takes considerable practice to get it right.
Years ago, due to a ticketing mishap, I was promoted to first-class. The aircraft was a 757 and we were leaving from the San Jose, California airport. This was before they remodeled that airport and they did not yet have those enclosed jet walks since it rarely rains there. So, they had brought up three stairs and were boarding this rather large plane through three doors with we first-class passengers boarding through the exclusive front door. As I boarded, there was a flight attendant standing at the door to greet the passengers. I found me seat in row three on the isle and started to settle in. There was a second attendant in the galley across from the door getting our breakfast ready. I watched as the second attendant stepped out of the galley and opened a small compartment aside the coat closet. She withdrew something wrapped in a towel and returned to the galley. A few seconds later, a gun shot rang out from the galley and the first flight attendant who had been standing in the door screamed and fell out the door down on to the stairs. I took cover.
A moment later, the second attendant rushed out of the galley carrying not a smoking gun, but a gushing bottle of champagne. The cork had exploded out of the bottle with such force that it had struck the other attendant and knocked her down.
Unfortunately, the first attendant was seriously injured in the fall. The rest of the attendants and the flight crew just stood around. Nobody knew what to do. Fortuntely, the airport emergency crew arrived momentarily and took over. I asked on of the other attendants why nobody knew what to do. He explained that federal law only requires one first aide trained crew member. Guess which one it was?
Fortunately, we received a radio message in flight that the captain passed on saying that our downed crew member had not broken any bones but had suffered only a sever sprain and some nasty bruises and would recover quickly.
I relate this incident to underscore the importance of being careful when opening champagne. I recommend putting a towel over the cork. If it does explode out as that one did, the weight of the towel should keep it from going to far.
As Mr. Ewok pointed out, the proper procedure is more a matter of removing the bottle from the cork than the cork from the bottle. If the dom is properly chilled and you use the correct procedure, there will be no explosion and no gushing, just a wonderful pop that hearlds the opening.
BTW, while blade enthusiasts might find the sabor colorful, women, on the other hand, really go for guys who can confidently and correctly open a bottle of champagne.
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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.4cs.net/~gollnick
[This message has been edited by Gollnick (edited 06 December 1999).]
