Don’t Get Corkscrewed: How to Open a Bottle of Wine Easily
Don’t let anything keep you from your wine!
For some wine lovers, the easiest choice may be to choose a bottle with a screw cap (or even a box) so that you don’t have to deal with wrestling the cork. But with these tips on how to open a corked bottle and what kind of opener to use, it levels the playing field, and you can choose wine by what’s inside the bottle.
Corks have been used to seal wine bottles for thousands of years. The natural, waterproof substance is flexible yet strong, a fantastic material for allowing the wine to age to perfection. Removing the cork can be a breeze with the right tools and techniques. (BTW...did you know that the squiggly screw part of a wine opener is called a worm?)
Waiter’s Corkscrew
Open your wine like a professional!
Have you been to a restaurant, and the waiter reaches into his pocket, pulls out a corkscrew, and seamlessly opens the bottle? The waiter’s corkscrew is a classic, and once you learn the technique, you can impress your friends as you open the bottle with the same amount of mastery. Check out this article and video from Cooks Illustrated that demonstrates the technique.
Lever Corkscrew
A popular series on Netflix features a woman using her wine opener in almost every other scene. Forget the murder, the intrigue, the mystery - it’s the corkscrew that everybody wants to know about. That woman in the house across the street uses a lever corkscrew. Not necessarily as impressive as the waiters corkscrew, but it’s easy, efficient, and oh so quick to pop that cork out. The one she uses looks a lot like this lever corkscrew from OXO.
Winged Corkscrew
Put your hands up!
And then there’s the winged corkscrew, the one that seems to be the most commonly used. It’s also referred to as an owl corkscrew, butterfly corkscrew, or angel corkscrew. Place the worm into the cork and twist the top handle, causing the arms to rise. Then just press them down, and voila! The cork comes up and out. Come on; you have to admit that there has been at least one time that you pretended it was a tiny man waving his arms up and down. Here is an adorable penguin version!
What About The Sealed Capsule?
Before you even get to the cork, you have to take off the capsule. That’s the foiled wrapper on the neck of the wine bottle that stops oxygen from getting in. Some bottles have a pull tab. Sometimes people use a knife and cut it off. Others rip it to shreds, anxious to get inside that bottle already. These techniques can go by the wayside with this handy little tool that makes the task easier.
Once you get your wine opener and become adept at using it, the hard part is over. The easy part is choosing our delicious wines and ordering from our online store.
