How To Open A Wine Bottle With Corkscrew

Opening A Wine Bottle Without Any Extra Tools

Wine Advice : How to Open a Wine Bottle With a Corkscrew

These methods will tell you how to open that corked wine bottle without any extra tools required. This means, all you need is the wine bottle itself and a little force. They may not be the best methods, or the most recommended ways to open your wine bottle, but if youre in a pinch with no other options, these can do the trick.

How To Dislodge A Damaged Cork

If a cork breaks in half while attempting to extract it, leaving some in the bottle, several options are possible to finish the job.

Place the spiral of the corkscrew at an angle into the piece remaining in the bottle and pull gently.

Place a wood screw about one-quarter inch into the cork and pull out.

Place a knife about an inch into the cork and twist out.

If the cork falls into the bottle, the last resort is to decant the wine by pouring the wine through wine funnel with a strainer, but if you dont have one of those a coffee filter will do to attempt to catch the tiny pieces of cork. The taste of the wine should not be affected.

This guide will assist you in opening a bottle of wine with a variety of corkscrews.; Dont forget to practice!; And drink the wine, of course ;

Knot And String Method

You will need a screwdriver, or another long thin metal implement, plus a thick piece of string or cord for this method.

First of all, make a hole in the cork with the screwdriver. Then tie a knot at the end of the string and push the knotted end down the hole with the screwdriver. You can then yank the cork out with the string.

This method requires a lot of physical strength and effort, it isnt one of my favorites, but its worth trying if all you have is a screwdriver and piece of string.

Recommended Reading: How Many Carbs In Wine

How To Open A Wine Bottle With A Nail And Hammer

This is pretty much the same idea as above only it uses a nail, so you can deal without a screw.

Hammer in the nail into the cork carefully. Do it at a slight angle so you dont push the cork into the bottle.

Use the hammer pull to pull out the cork.

So this method is simpler but it has a slightly worse success rate. Unlike a screw, its easy to pull out the nail from the cork without removing the latter. This needs practice and getting the right angle.

Another tricky but a cool hack to open that bottle nonetheless. This time were using a cheap wire hanger. You will probably need pliers for this:

Straighten out the wire hanger.

Twist a hook at one end.

Carefully wedge in the hook into the bottle through the side of the cork. This is the tricky part as the wire is thick enough to make it difficult.

If youre lucky, youll get the hook down below the cork.

Now, twist the wire so it can hook into the cork.

Pull it out.

As I said, the tricky part is getting the wire in. The cork is very tight and the wire is pretty thick, so it will take some effort and practice.

The Wire Hanger Technique

And you thought you could only cleared clogged drains with unwound hangers, really. If you twist a spare wire hanger into the shape of a corkscrew, you can easily wiggle your cork out of the bottle with a few quick twists.

If in the course of your adventures in DIY opening youve managed to shred your cork into bits and send them spewing into the wine itself, a last-minute hack for you strain your wine over a coffee filter. Itll be like the cork never even existed in the first place.

Also Check: What Wine Has The Lowest Calories

How To Open A Wine Bottle With A Shoe

And finally, the masterpiece. The most epic and artful way to open a wine bottle without a wine key. With a shoe.

Itâs a little known fact that every sommelier learns how to open up a wine bottle with a shoe during their certifications. Just in case.

Thatâs not true. Sorry.

Letâs just get into it. Place the wine bottle into the shoe, its base upright where your heel would usually rest. Find a hard surface, a brick wall ideally, and hit the bottom of the shoeâs heel on it repeatedly. After a few strikes, the cork should have moved up slightly. At that point you can wrestle it out with your hand.

And, trust us, there is nothing more charming than opening a bottle of wine with a shoe and pouring it directly into a nice wine decanter. Hereâs a great resource about how to decant wine if youâre intrigued. You can also learn how to clean a decanter so your crystal can shine bright.

/ Use A Sparkling Wine Stopper

If you want to keep a sparkling wine fresh, your best bet is a Champagne stopper. They are inexpensive and can keep your bubbles going for up to five days. Traditional method sparkling wines like Champagne and Cava will last longer than tank method wines like Prosecco. Dont be tempted to put a teaspoon in the neck of your bottle this is proven to be ineffective.;

If you would like to find out more about;the best glass for drinking;Champagne,;read our post here.

Want to brush up your knowledge or learn more about wine, spirits and sake? Sign up to our Top of the Class Challenge e-mail quiz. Each Friday, we will send you a themed quiz to put your knowledge to the test while giving you the chance to learn something new. Or if youre ready to take the next step, our qualifications are available online, find out more here.

Don’t Miss: Can I Drink Red Wine With Gout

Trying A Screw And Pliers

1Cut off the foil that covers the cork. Use a kitchen knife to score the foil just below the lip of the wine bottle. Take off the foil cap and discard it.XResearch source

Work very carefully with the knife. Nothing ruins a nice evening and a great bottle of wine like a deep gash in your hand!

2Grab a clean 2;in screw and a set of pliers. The average wine cork is about 1.75;in in length, and you need the screw to be long enough to drive deeply into the cork and yet protrude out of the top of it by about 0.5;in . Even though the screw should never actually contact the wine, wash it off with soap and water.XResearch source

If you want to clean the screw more completely after washing it off, disinfect it by soaking it in a dish of rubbing alcohol for 1-2 minutes. Even better, sterilize it by placing it in boiling water for at least 5 minutes, or ideally 15 minutes, then letting the water cool.

A slightly shorter screw may work, but dont go any shorter than 1.5;in in length.

3Twist the screw clockwise into the cork with a screwdriver. Press the tip of the screw into the center of the top of the cork to make a starting indentation. Then, turn the screw into the center of the cork until there is about 0.5;in sticking out. You may be able to do this with only your fingers, but using a screwdriver makes it that much easier.XResearch source

Remember that you need to twist clockwise to drive a screw into a cork, a piece of wood, or anything else.

Hook Em With A Hanger

Basic wine opener – How to open a standard wine bottle

This method is relatively easy, but it entails saying goodbye to one of your wire hangers you wont be using it to hang clothes again. First, bend the tip of the hanger about 30 degrees back; if you do this right, it will look like a fish hook. Next, slide the wire down into the sealed wine bottle, alongside the cork. Rotate the wire 90 degrees so that the hook is underneath the cork. Simply pull the wire up, and the cork should release. Pliers or other household items can be used to tug at the hanger if it seems stuck. Just be sure to use a towel or gloves for protection.

Also Check: Where Is Wine Country In Oregon

How To Open A Bottle Of Wine With A Corkscrew

In order to reap the rewards of fine wine, the art of opening a corked bottle must be learned and practiced.

Once a bottle of wine is purchased, the task of opening the bottle must be tackled. Wine bottles are most often corked and require specific tools for opening. If a bottle of corked wine is not opened correctly, the wine may become drizzled with tiny pieces of cork, leaving it nearly undrinkable, at the very least, unsightly in a glass.

How To Open A Wine Bottle With A Pen

One of the easiest methods on the list. Granted, it doesnt pull out the cork but rather pushes it in. Nonetheless, you get to the good stuff. So heres how:

Take a sturdy pen and put it perpendicularly into the top of the cork.

Now, push it with all youve got until it ends up in the bottle.

Thats it, in a matter of seconds you have your wine open. Its a bit dirty as you get the cork in your wine, but it works.

You can use any object that fits to push the cork into the bottle this way.

Standards Of Proper Wine Service

Certain traditions and rituals accompany the service of all types of wine. Of course, you can select the steps of service that are best for the level of formality in your dining room.;

Prepare your servers and bartenders to be ready to talk about your wine list. Customers might ask about origins, blend types, and flavor notes. Staff wine tastings or tastings during training are a great way to educate your servers and have a little fun after a shift.

The level of wine service that you want your servers to perform should be clearly communicated. Tell your servers where to place wine glasses on the table, how to position bottles and chillers, and how many steps of service they should observe.

These are the highlights of proper wine service find the most detailed guide to proper wine service here, from the Court of Master Sommeliers.

As a server, ask each table if theyve looked at the wine list. You might even incentivize your servers to sell certain high-profit glasses and bottles.

Be ready to provide suggestions based on each course guests have ordered and use the menu as a guide to the age of each wine.

Describe the flavor notes of wines for guests if youre familiar with them. Remember to ask guests what flavor notes they prefer or want to avoid.

Set wine glasses on the right side of each guest if theyre not already on the table. Traditionally, the wine glass is set between the guest and their water glass.

How To Open Wine Bottle With A Torch

More ways to use heat to your favor in opening that bottle. A cooking blow torch comes to your aid. The idea is the same as using a lighter:

Heat the neck of the bottle at the cork level .

Keep turning the bottle and heating it evenly from all sides.

It pops out due to expanding air in a few minutes.

This is a better and safer method than the lighter, but you need to have a cooking torch available.

Don’t Miss: Can You Ship Wine To Louisiana

Option : Open The Wine With A Shoe

Did you know you can open a bottle of wine with a shoe? And no, you dont need a stiletto or something like that. What you have to do, with patience and skill, is:

Find a flat shoe, without a heel, like a slipper or a moccasin.

Put the wine bottle in the heel of the shoe.

Tap the heel against a wall, holding the bottle firmly in your hand. The shoe will cushion the blows, but make sure you protect the bottle carefully.

Repeat several times, with gusto.

The cork will push out little by little and, when its out about two centimetres, just pull it out with your hand.

The Most Pragmatic Wine Opener

Before you learn how to open a bottle of wine youll need one essential tool, a simple waiters friend corkscrew. They are widely available at most grocery stores and cost around $15-20.

Dont get fancy. In nearly every case the waiters friend corkscrew will outperform other alternatives.

Make sure it has a serrated blade, this will make cutting the foil much easier. Ready to start opening that bottle?

Classic Double-Hinged Waiters Friend

Wine Folly now offers the first wine opener everyone should own. The double-hinged lever action makes it easy to use. We also love how efficient the serrated edge cuts foils of all kinds. This is one of the most popular wine openers of all time.

Read Also: Will You Be My Bridesmaid Wine

The Hammer And Screw Method:

A post shared by Kelli Zaremba on Apr 14, 2017 at 3:43pm PDT

I recently was at a wake service for a family member when someone realized my grandmothers corkscrew, probably from the 1960s if Im honest, had jammed. I prepared to excuse myself to run down to Rite Aid when my uncle surprised the entire crowd by opening the wine with a few home improvement tools in a nearby drawer.

He started by twisting a screw into the cork using a screwdrivernot deep into the bottle, but enough so that most of the screw remained outside the cork.

Then he;grabbed a hammer and lifted the screw in one swift motion, and voilathe cork popped out of the bottle, and everyone clapped like they were watching a magician at work.

You May Like: What Is The Most Keto Friendly Wine

More Tips For Opening A Bottle Of Wine Without A Corkscrew

How to open a bottle of wine using a winged corkscrew.

The best method uses objects that you have readily available
Sanitize your object of choice key, nail, air needle before sticking it into the cork

Synthetic cork may be more difficult to maneuver because it has less give than a natural cork
Always exercise caution if you’re playing with fire or sharp objects

Recommended Reading: What Kind Of Wine Can Pregnant Women Drink

Option : How To Open A Wine Bottle With A Knife

The most important thing here is to choose a knife that is less wide than the cork, so it will fit in the bottleneck, and has a very sharp point.

Set the bottle upright and slide the knife into the cork halfway .

Then try to turn it very slowly, rocking from side to side, to pull it out of the bottle.

It takes a lot of patience and skill or youll end up with pieces of cork in the bottle or cracking the cork in two.

Pull up slowly and viola, bottle open!

How To Fix Dried Out Wine Corks

The problem with most wine bottles when youre having difficulty opening them is a dried out cork. This is especially evident when youre trying to open it without a corkscrew. If its dry, it breaks easily, and its that much harder to get it out.

So why does this happen and what do you do to solve the problem? Corks dry out because wine is not stored properly. Whats the proper way? Storing the bottles on their side.;Weve made the mistake of storing wine simply standing in our home for far too long.

Its dry now what?

Put the bottle on the side and let the cork soak in for 24 hours.

Store your wine in a humid environment .

Don’t Miss: What Wine Has The Lowest Calories

How To Use A Corkscrew

There are two kinds of corkscrews you’ll come across most frequently: a winged corkscrew and a wine key. While both kinds are inexpensive, easy to find, and relatively easy to use, it’s still possible to break a cork if you’re using one without the proper technique. Here’s the best way to use both kinds.

Option : Open The Wine By Pushing The Cork Into The Bottle

How To Open a Bottle of Wine Using a Wine Key Corkscrew ...

One of the most common solutions to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew is to just push the cork into the bottle. Obviously, this isnt the best option but if youre going to drink the whole bottle in a sitting, it will get you out of a tight spot!

To do this, you need a cylindrical object without a sharp point, so you dont destroy the cork as you push it in and break it into a million pieces. If its a silicone cork, however, something sharp will do. Take a fat marker or lipstick, for example, and push the cork until it falls into the bottle.

Also Check: Red Wine Stain On White Tablecloth

How To Store Wine After Opening Without A Cork

So youve opened the bottle but you havent consumed it all. If the cork is intact, its pretty straightforward to insert it back. But what if it got damaged in the process?

Why is this important? One word oxygen. Its both, a friend and enemy to the wine. While the initial exposure to oxygen improves the taste, leave wine out in the open longer and it gets ruined.

Here are a few ways to keep the wine longer:

Transfer it into a sealable container. It loses in style but keeps fresh longer.
Use a wine stopper.
Put it in a fridge. Its not a big saver, but it will still be good tomorrow.

The above methods will keep your wine fresh for a couple of days at most. If you want to keep it fresh longer, invest in a vacuum seal gadget. This will keep it fresh for a couple of weeks.
The ultimate wine saver is the air pump opener which pierces the cork with a needle, pulls out only as much wine as you need, and replaces it with inert gas, thus keeping it sealed as if youve never opened it.