Why is this done? I have opened countless bottles of champagne by carefully removing the cork, by holding it firmly and rotating the bottle slowly. Most of the time I can get a bottle open without undue spillage, although occaisonally you have a cork get away from you.

So I'm just curious, what's the benefit of doing it this way?

It's a showmanship trick to pull off at sexy parties. Opening champagne is always done for an occasion. One can't be timid about it.

yeah, so instead of a cork flying at you, you've not got wire, a metal "cap" and broken glass.

brilliant

Its not flying at you lol, but it can Richochet! Ever had a cork hit you in the face?

OUCH!

whats this about finding the seam? are you supposed to follow with the back of the blade along the bottle's seamline? that part wasn't clear.

@bamdrew: Yes, perhaps it wasn't real clearly explained in the vid. The place on the bottle neck where the seam is is where you're aiming for.
Running the knife along the seam on its way there isn't necessary but seems to be how a lot of people (especially beginners) do it. It also creates a nice impressive saber "ssschiiiing!" sound, to boot. Either way, the key is to strike the bottle's neck/lip on the seam.
I assume that this is because that is the weakest part on the bottle, and creating a crack/break there will allow the pressure to explode the bottle with a minimum of mess and/or deadly shards of glass.

aahhhh the life of a sommelier!!

This works on a number of beer bottles as well, as long as the knife strikes the lip as its running up the side. Giving a few taps on the bottle with the knife can build up the pressure too, if you can't get it to work.

How dangerous is this, really? Should I try it?

All I will say is do it outside and with some cheap champnge at first before grabbing that moet.

only try it if you're going to videotape it for us, messenger!!

ALL OF YOU...FOLLOW THE SIMPLE DIRECTIONS WITHOUT FEAR AND IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS AND FAM NEXT CELEBRATION TIMEY.....JEEEEEZZ! THIS IS SIMPLE-......THINK COLLEGE, THINK FIREWORKS, AND SEX WITH STRANGERS......

*cooking *howto

Adding video to channels (Cooking, Howto) - requested by looris.