Comments on: How to Open a Wine Bottle

on 3/13/2009 We love the corkscrews with the foil-cutter on one end. Easy and SO professional looking!! :)

on 12/30/2008 As easy at it sounds, it took me a while before I could open a bottle of wine! Thanks for the detailed article!

on 6/11/2007 The only tool you need is a bigger scissors (not a nail cutter), which one face is narrower then the bottle's caliber. You just need to stick one face of the scissors in the cork and to screw it off!

on 8/8/2006 I bought a bottle of wine, got home only to realize I didn't have a corkscrew. Being a huge fan of MacGyver I used a little good 'Ole American ingenuity and screwed a long wood screw into the cork and pulled out the cork. Easy as pie.

on 6/11/2007 My roommate and I had a bottle of white Zinfandel, but alas, no corkscrew. 2:43 in the AM is no time to be shopping for a single corkscrew, so I had to improvise. I took a wire coat hangar and wrapped it around a screw driver to form the shape of a cork screw. The hangar we used was one of the more sturdier types. I then proceeded to screw the hangar down into the cork. The going was somewhat difficult, as the wire wanted to straighten itself, but I got it about halfway down the cork, bent the rest that was outside the cork into a handle shape, and pulled slowly and firmly, and *POP* out the cork came on the first try.

on 6/11/2007 Hammer three or four nails so that they enter at the top corner and touch the bottom opposite side of the cork. Nail deeply into the cork so you can use them as handles to twist the cork free, and slowly pull it out while twisting. Pinching the four nails together while you turn compresses the cork's core and increases the nails' grip on it. Cork fragmentation is minimal if executed properly.

on 6/11/2007 If by some chance, you do not have a corkscrew, then find a hammer and screwdriver. Clean the screwdriver with isopropyl alcohol, because it might be filthy. Place as many paper towels as needed on the top of the bottle. Penetrate the paper towel(s) and place the slotted (or Phillips) screwdriver on top of the cork and as close to the rim as possible (but not too close that you could break the glass.) I recommend placing a towel or shirt on top of the screwdriver handle to silence the pounding, then hammer the top of the screwdriver handle. Do not hammer too lightly or too hard. Eventually, the cork will go straight down into the bottle causing some wine to spill out because of the pressure, but that's what the paper towel(s) are for. Try serving into a glass, so the cork will stop obstructing the narrow opening of the bottle. The cork should not contaminate the wine with any noticeable residue.

on 3/15/2006 Desperate time calls for desperate measures. With a tweezer, I kept on digging, and digging around the perimeter of the cork. As I dug deeper, I kept clearing out the remnants. Finally, I was able to push the cork inward, but now I had some cork in the wine. With a double paper towel, I drained the wine into an ice bucket, making sure the hold the paper towel tight around the rim and slowly pouring the wine into the ice bucket. It works!

on 1/25/2006 An actual woodscrew, turned into the cork, and then drawn with the aid of a strong set of pliers will work very well. Plus, the added embarrassment caused by the sheer barbaric treatment you just gave the wine will help motivate you to purchase a proper corkscrew!

on 6/11/2007 Often I've encountered wine corks that do not take the butterfly/2-winged corkscrews well. They just crumble up the cork and never grip it. I've found that the pig-tail type cork works better, but at my job, that type was found only on the waiter's corkscrew. The problem with the waiter's corkscrew is that it takes a lot more strength to get the cork out than with the 2-winged. After pulling at the thing in the kitchen for 10 minutes, I decided to put the bottle on the floor, grip it with my feet, pull, and out the cork came. Just a tip for all the weaklings out there.