Fully paid health insurance. When you are in the emergency room for an arterial bleeding injury, you don't want to have to worry about the little things.
-------------------- "One may dislike carrots, spinach, beetroot, or the skin on hot milk. But not wine. It is like hating the air that one breathes, since each is equally indispensable."
Marcel Ayme`
Posts: 6187 | Location: The Left Coast | Registered: Dec 01, 2001
Originally posted by mafcat: it's so sad that such "specialists" never heard about it....
Uhhhh.... McFly, we've heard about it, we just think it's rather pointless.
Kind of like a man wearing a thong....
-------------------- "One may dislike carrots, spinach, beetroot, or the skin on hot milk. But not wine. It is like hating the air that one breathes, since each is equally indispensable."
Marcel Ayme`
Posts: 6187 | Location: The Left Coast | Registered: Dec 01, 2001
However, be aware that litigation can result from this mess. See, for example, Dechello v. Johnson Enterprises, 74 Md.App. 228, 536 A.2d 1203 (1988). This is a case where a consumer sustained a serious eye injury from a sparkling wine cork (Asti). See also D. Eolkin and P. Tan, Premature Ejection of Champagne Stoppers, cited in Gasque v. Heublein, Inc., 281 S.C. 278, 315 S.E.2d 556 (App.1984).
I got a chance to do this today in class, and was surprised at how easy it was. Some struggled but eventually got the hang of it. No one was injured and only one bottle broke to a point where it couldn't be used.
Just make sure you hit the bottle decisively, though not necessarily hard, at a low angle (IE; follow the neck of the bottle) and follow through like a golf swing (or hockey slapshot) and you'll get a nice clean cutarea.
We used Laguiole sabres with the sharp end and some different bottles - Pol Roger standard cuvée, a Loire Cremánt and some cava.
Good luck and have fun!
EDIT: Also, don't remove the wire cage! Instead aim at one of the springs running parallel to the bottle.
Posts: 113 | Location: Grythyttan, Sweden | Registered: May 22, 2006
The one time I saw someone do this, it was at a wedding reception, and he was wearing a tux, with a red sash, and looked like a European monarch from the late 19th century. He looked ridiculous.
Because it looks good and extra fancy of course. I can agree with it being totally illogical. But seriously, in this business, a lot of things are.
Explain to me why a waiter who is about to pour you a glass of wine does this with one arm behind his back, holding a heavy bottle with a few fingers and it's a bonus if he's wearing satin gloves (which are extremely slippery and basically have to be dipped in water to be able to hold onto a full bottle)?
It doesn't make sense from a "logical" point of view, but it looks good and adds extra flair to an event.
Posts: 113 | Location: Grythyttan, Sweden | Registered: May 22, 2006
