Wine Openers

Sunday morning reading:
We expect late frosts here in western Colorado. It’s not really spring without the mutable weather giving us a thrill now and then, just to see who jumps first in response to possibly losing all of the (pick one or all) peach, cherry or grape crop.
I’d add apricots to the list but we so rarely get an apricot harvest because they bloom early and long-term (I suppose 30 years can be considered long term unless you’re a tree) weather data the historical last freeze around here occurs April 23.

As you can see, we had a bit of snow to greet us Saturday, the only snow of the month and just in time to catch fruit growers wondering when the first shoe would fall.
The second shoe fell early this morning when the low at my house dipped to 26 and around the valley you could hear the wind machines roar to life.
Such is the sleep-deprived life of a fruitgrower.
Royal nuptials: Susannah has an interesting post about watching the royal wedding (or is that Royal Wedding?) and thinking of British sparkling wine, which apparently can be quite good.
I guess in an historical situation such as this, I’d forgo any thoughts of nationalism and go with Champagne, which is what reports said the Palace served for the occasion.
Sabering the bubbly: Alfonso Cevola, aka The Italian Wine Guy, has a fine post about his latest adventure in the Texas wine and fine food scene. Among the great photos are a series of Claudine Pepin sabering a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, one of the event sponsors (and probably why someone had a bottle of Champagne to play with.)
BTW: The Wikipedia site on Veuve Clicquot has a fascinating picture of the formidable Madame Clicquot herself, who according to one source didn’t drink. I read this somewhere and in a weak moment failed to note where it was. I’ll get back to you on that.
Anyway, seeing the photos of Claudine Pepin saber the bottle reminded me of the several times I’ve watched her do the same during her presentation (with her father, the immensely talented and popular Jacques Pepin) at the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen.
Claudine does this in-stage, indoors, and insists there’s a) little danger; b) it’s easy to do once you’ve determined the weak seam in every bottle; and c) if you keep the blade moving along the bottle neck.
The glass shards are forced out of the bottle by the pressurized Champagne rushing out from inside.
You could try it, if you feel daring. If you don’t have a saber lying around the house, any long-bladed, hefty knife will do.
For all you DFYers, here is an interesting piece on YouTube.
Notice the erudite and educational clues the video provides, such as “never saber while intoxicated.”
Maybe start with a $7 Spanish Cava, though, instead of a $130 Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame.
Hey, how else will you find out about these things?
And speaking of the F&W Classic, this year’s event runs June 17-19. The basic consumer ticket is $1,185 for events, seminars, demos and the various Grand Tastings.
Info at the website above.