This is our new Sciabola sword for sabering Champagne or Sparkling wine bottles. According to us this is the best way to open your bubbles of choice always very festive!.

First prepare you bottles by lifting up the wire cage. See photo above.

Every bottle has two seams, find one of them and this is the spot where you strike the bottle, remember to keep you sword flat against the bottle. You do not need to saber too hard, there is already a lot of pressure in the bottle, just a medium tap. Saber your bottle away from your friends, friends should be waiting with glasses next to you or behind.
Bottle should be very cold.

Leslie trying out her birthday present after a recent truffle hunt.

The bottle tops can be sharp, be careful. Below is a link to watch our Sciabola Video. See for yourself the action.

Click for Sciabola Video

Happy New Year! Buon Anno! Sciabola the New Year in!!!

Ornella of Pelissero Pasquale is preparing to bottled her first sparkling Brut Rose 2011, a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The first step is to build a starter by adding yeast to a few liters of the still wine.

The wine with the added yeast is then blended into the remaining wine with a little aeration to help along the next fermentation process.

During the bottling the tank of wine is stirred constantly to keep the added yeast in suspension, causing the wine to be very cloudy
To aid in the disgorgement (2 years from now) plastic plugs are added before the temporary metal bottle caps are placed

Leslie using a mallet to help ease in the plugs.

The last step before aging is the installing of the metal caps with a pneumatic press.

placing the bottles in cages before remuage starts.

It's resting place for the next 2 plus years. with a bottle from midway and one from the end of bottling, both fitted with presser gages to track over time how the wine is fermenting (again) on its journey to become sparkling wine, method de champenoise.

On tuesday we travelled to CALUSO a small town north/west of torino to
visit a wine region called ERBAUCE DI CALUSO well known for producing
crisp,acidic,dry whites and fantastic sparklers all made from the local
varietal ERBALUCE also a few reds from nebbiolo,barbara and local varietal
NERRETTO. The passito sweet wines are a must try !! Above is the barrel
ROOM of the CIECK winery where they age there passito for 3 years.

Robert learning how to "Riddle" what fun!

Inspecting dead yeast cells in a bottle of aging sparkling rose yum!!

The full line of CIECK wines

Back home for a BBQ with the langa style boys and a few local
restauranteurs a fun way to sell wine.

Chiaro with her bubble friend milena the other half of LA GANGHIJA
wines