Open a Bottle of Wine

Published on Monday, March 19, 2007, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

Open a Bottle of Wine

The first step to wine appreciation is opening the bottle. Jeff Creamer, wine director at San Francisco restaurant Two, coaxes a cork from a bottle in a few easily replicable steps.

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POST A COMMENT |10 Comments

COMMENT

  • No, the wine never touches the capsule when being poured. It only touches the capsule when it drips down. It is cut on the top of the capsule for appearance only.

  • At least 75% of the opened bottles I see have had the foil removed from above the lip, and this is wrong. The last thing you want is to pour your wine over metal foil before drinking. It's common sense to peel the foil from the lower edge of the rim, isn't it?

  • I use a tool that looks like 2 flat prongs that slide in on either side of the cork. After they are inserted, slowly pull while twisting it in one direction a little. I don't know if they have a specific name, but I love them. I don't have to remove the cork off of the screw afterward and no risk of breaking the cork. And if you see that you are starting to push the cork in a little, just start...+READ

    I use a tool that looks like 2 flat prongs that slide in on either side of the cork. After they are inserted, slowly pull while twisting it in one direction a little. I don't know if they have a specific name, but I love them. I don't have to remove the cork off of the screw afterward and no risk of breaking the cork. And if you see that you are starting to push the cork in a little, just start over.

    Cheers!
    ~Chelsie

    http://chelsieswines.blogspot.com/-COLLAPSE

  • If you don't remove the foil as joonjoon says he does not, you will pour the wine over " lead " if the foil is lead. This could poison both you and your wine.
    Especially you if you drink enough wine. But you do not need wine that tastes like lead.

  • I'm ridiculously lazy...and I personally don't bother cutting the foil at all. I just go straight in and pull, and the foil always breaks itself open. Afterwards I just pick off the foil that's sticking out. :)

  • I am the master at screwing up the cork and it drives my wine nut honey berzerk. He can get it out with a screw (learned that in the woods hunting I bet), I know nothing of wines and my experience with cork was a board with tacks at school. But our wine opener looks like a frog. you screw 'the worm' in and his legs go down, then you pull up on him/her and its supposed to just slide out. But It...+READ

    I am the master at screwing up the cork and it drives my wine nut honey berzerk. He can get it out with a screw (learned that in the woods hunting I bet), I know nothing of wines and my experience with cork was a board with tacks at school. But our wine opener looks like a frog. you screw 'the worm' in and his legs go down, then you pull up on him/her and its supposed to just slide out. But It always goes in sideways. He says not to take it out and re try because it "compromises the integrity of the cork." Howdo you recover from a bad screw in, and how do you work the other wine gadgets. Or are they for looks?-COLLAPSE

  • And.. if you do happen to lose the cork in the bottle, just knot a string, or the end of your apron string, push it into the bottle, under the cork and pull, it worked every time for me when I waitressed at byob places.

  • At the risk of being a heretic, I always just take the foil completely off and use a cork puller. never have gotten anything in the wine, even when the cork is fragile. But it is a moot point as screw-tops with good gaskets take over.

  • awesome, im so glad to see him cutting the foil UNDER the lip, not over it. all the waiters that i work with do the above the lip method, and it always bewilders me.

  • One thing I would add: some wines have longer, deeper corks than others. So when Jeff says not to screw the worm in all the way, this will not apply to some bottles. For example, Italian reds generally have corks which are almost a centimeter longer than your standard American cork. For those types of wines it is actually preferable to screw deeper, especially when the wine is old.

    Obviously...+READ

    One thing I would add: some wines have longer, deeper corks than others. So when Jeff says not to screw the worm in all the way, this will not apply to some bottles. For example, Italian reds generally have corks which are almost a centimeter longer than your standard American cork. For those types of wines it is actually preferable to screw deeper, especially when the wine is old.

    Obviously this level of minutia cannot be included in a video clip that is 72 seconds long. That's what comments are for. :)-COLLAPSE