When we founded The Society of the Silver Sword, we did so with three main goals in mind: to build a thriving community of wine enthusiasts, to spread joy through the art of sabrage, and to celebrate excellence in English Sparkling Wine. So what better way to achieve all three goals at once than by hosting a day of sabrage silliness at one of the most exciting wineries in the country?
Long before we got things up and running, Chris had come up with the idea of an all-day festival of sabrage. He imagined having people playfully competing to send their cork the furthest, or open a bottle in the most creative way they could think of.
Then Westwell came into the picture. We first visited a few years ago and turned up, sword in hand, asking if we could perform sabrage there one sunny Saturday afternoon. One bottle turned into two, which turned into a whole hen party and many other visitors learning the superpower of sabrage.
Soon after, we reached out to Gal, the creative powerhouse behind Westwell’s unique brand and eye-catching bottle labels, to ask if Westwell might be up for partnering with the Society. Being the fun-loving person she is, she enthusiastically agreed, and we just knew that Westwell had to be the venue for the first ever Sabrage Olympics.
Once we had an idea and a venue, the next few months were spent carefully planning out how to make the event actually work. How many competitions can you fit into an afternoon? How do you create rounds that are easy to measure and declare a winner for, but also accessible to people of all ages and skill/experience levels? Luckily, Chris’ endless stream of ideas was the perfect match for Helena’s love of a schedule and a workback plan.
And so that’s how, on 5th September 2026, the inaugural Sabrage Olympics saw over a hundred intrepid Olympians (and their supporting teams!) descend on Westwell.
The afternoon kicked off with a warm welcome from Gal, an introduction to Westwell, and their reflections on being Founding Partners of The Society of the Silver Sword. Glasses were filled with Wicken Foy, one of Westwell’s most popular sparkling wines, and then it was time for our first event…
Distance
The first round was the most straightforward—a competition to see who could get their corks the furthest from the starting line. Competitors came up in waves, aiming to find the perfect angle and force to send it flying across the grass. Initials scribbled on the cork beforehand allowed us to determine the winning cork at 9.5m from the start line, launched by Silver Sword devotee, Andrew!
Accuracy
Then it was on to the next round, in which competitors had to fire their corks towards an empty Methuselah, essentially engaging in a game of pétanque, but with swords and bottles of sparkling wine. A cheer went up every time a cork landed or bounced closer to the bottle than its predecessors. We thought the competition was over, only for one last brave challenger to step up: Annabel, who had only performed sabrage once before. In one confident, almost nonchalant sweep, her cork landed just in front of the bottle and took two gentle bounces, nudging it to its resting place a mere five centimetres away from its target. The crowd went wild—we had a winner!
Speed
The third round was a test of how quickly each person could power-walk (not run!) from vine to table, pick up and unsheath a sword, and prepare and open a bottle of Westwell’s finest, before pouring the perfect glass, power-walking over to one of our judges, securing victory by being the first to clink glasses.
Speed, we should stress, did not mean recklessness. Running with swords or sharp bottles was firmly off the cards, as was sabrage anywhere outside the designated area. Our Olympians therefore had to combine urgency with the meticulousness befitting the occasion. This round took concentration, skill, and drive, which were all shown in abundance by our winner, Charles, who completed the challenge in a record-setting 19 seconds!
In fact, everyone was so quick we didn’t get any photos…
Precision
After all that excitement, it was time for something more calm: in the fourth round, we were looking for the perfect act of sabrage. When struck at exactly the right point with exactly the right technique, a bottle of sparkling wine will open incredibly cleanly, leaving a perfectly flat top and not a drop spilled. Our competitors lined up and opened their bottles, while our guest judge, Chris’ dad David, got to work with his protractor angle finder. Each bottle was assessed for the flatness of its cut and the amount of wine remaining. The competition was fierce, but a stroke of beginners’ luck was on the side of our winner, Iona, whose first-ever act of sabrage saw no wastage and a near-perfect cut across the bottle—an angle of just 1º.
Creativity
Formal competitions completed, we gathered for the final spectacle of the day—the opportunity for anyone to scratch the itch of testing out whether they could open a bottle with an object other than a sword. Our instructors carefully pre-approved each implement for safety and feasibility, and participants tested out an iron, a glass, a clipboard, a bin lid, and a pair of secateurs. Amusement was high but results were mixed—suffice it to say, there’s a reason why our hand-made custom English sparkling wine sabres are the implement of choice…
Joy
We rounded out the afternoon with our Winners’ ceremony, bringing up the Bronze, Silver, and Gold medallists for each of our events to collect their certificates, and bask in well deserved moments of glory against the backdrop of the cheering assembled crowd. With the September sun still shining and the vines looking resplendent with full bunches of grapes, the inaugural Sabrage Olympics was complete—just in time for harvest, which was to start a mere two days later!
We are so grateful to everyone who came, got involved, supported our Olympians, and helped us validate our ethos—wine doesn’t need to be serious, being silly with a group of amazing people is good for the soul, and sparkling wine really is better when opened with a sword. And, of course, none of it would have been possible without Gal, Sarah, and the whole Westwell bunch, who threw themselves into the ridiculous idea with gusto, and were the most incredible hosts.
Thank you to everyone who made the first Sabrage Olympics one to remember. And we’re delighted to announce that Westwell has already told us they’d like to host again next year… so here’s to 2027!
Photos: Lrock Media