Video: Opening a Bottle of Wine

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How to open a bottle of wine; learn more about wine in this free instructional video.

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Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Farley Walker. I like to think I know a little bit about wine. In addition to having my introductory level certification, I also work at Thomas Fogarty Winery which is up in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. There I work in the tasting room and also do wine writing for them and I’ve had wine writing published elsewhere as well so I am going to talk to you about wine today and give you some information about things you might not know about. First and I think maybe one of the most important things to know about wine is how to open a bottle. You can’t really do anything else with the wine until you have opened it. This is especially important I think if you are in the service industry waiting tables. I can do this in my sleep now. I’ve done it so many times a day but I remember the first time I ever did it and it was really kind of scary. We are going to do a step by step guide on how to open a bottle of wine. First of all I recommend a wine key like this. It is called a waiters cork screw as opposed to ones with arms that tend to break the cork and don’t work very well. So you pull the knife out. The serrated type is best because the blade cuts better. There is a little bit of debate about whether to start at the top lip or the bottom lip. I, myself, prefer the bottom because as you pour the wine it does not come into contact with the flow which could change the flavor of the wine. So holding the wine by the neck put the knife on whichever lip you choose and move the bottle around putting a fair amount of pressure so that you are actually cutting into the foil. Some people say you shouldn’t turn the bottle but if it makes you more comfortable to turn it, go ahead. Then you are going to peel the foil top back with the knife. If you are a waiter and you have an apron at this point, you could puyt the top into your pocket, if you are opening it for yourself, throw it wherever. Close the knife, .pull out the cork screw taking the tip of your index finger at almost the end of the cork screw and place it into about the center of the cork with a firm grip on the neck of the bottle. You are going to push it in so that it is in there nice and steady. This point continues to hold the neck and twist the cork screw until it goes almost the way in. At this point, rest the lever on the top of the bottle. Put your thumb against that for extra support. Take the bottom of the cork screw and begin to pull up. So let’s me show you at this point, you got it out about that much, you can go a little bit further if you want, rest it on the lip, put the thumb in place and pull up. You don’t want to pull it all the way out. At this point it is going to make a loud popping noise as well as the possibility of wine splashing all over you. So once you have done this, take a firm hold of the cork and gently rock it out until you pull the cork out. Then you can pour the wine.