The traditional Champagne bottle-opening technique that uses a sabre is called sabrage.
In sabrage, the blunt back edge of a sabre is slid along the bottle’s seam toward the neck. The glass ring holding the cork is struck at the correct point, allowing the cork and neck ring to separate cleanly. The internal pressure helps push the detached top away from the bottle.
The technique is associated with military celebrations after the French Revolution and is often linked in popular stories with Napoleon Bonaparte’s cavalry. The exact origin stories are less certain than the name and method themselves, so the historical anecdotes should not be treated as proof that one individual invented it.
Sabrage requires a suitable bottle, correct technique and careful handling. It should not be attempted casually, because broken glass and pressurised wine create serious hazards. The name comes from sabre, the curved cavalry sword, not from a Champagne production stage.