While drinking wine can be enjoyable, opening the bottle can be a whole other story, especially if you do not drink wine very often. It is important that you know the proper way to remove the cork from the wine bottle so that you do not break the cork and get its pieces into your wine.
Instructions
1. Make sure you have a proper corkscrew. Not all corkscrews are created equal, and ease of use does not necessarily coincide with the price. Additionally, fancy corkscrews are not necessarily the best type to use even on expensive wine. Choose a pivot corkscrew that has two notches on it, such as a waiter's corkscrew. If you order a bottle of wine at a restaurant, ask the waiter if you can see his corkscrew; chances are this is the type he will be using (see Resources below).
2. Prepare to open your bottle of wine by placing it on the counter. Taking your corkscrew in hand, flip up the tiny blade on the top outside edge. Holding the bottle of wine by its neck, take the tiny blade and run it along the foil just below the top of the bottle. Press hard enough that you cut the foil but nothing more. Continue to do this until you have made a full circle with the blade. Fold the blade back into place and slide the now cut piece of foil from the top of the bottle.
3. Flip up the metal lever of your corkscrew with the notches and pull out the circular screw element so that your corkscrew looks like a "T" with the screw facing down. Hold the corkscrew in your dominant hand with the back of it in your palm, wrap your fingers around it with your middle and index fingers hugging the screw element.
4. Hold the bottle of wine securely in your non-dominant hand and penetrate the middle of the cork with the edge of the screw element. Slowly twist the screw element into the cork, being careful to keep it in the center of the cork. Continue to do this until the entire screw element is inside the cork.
5. Bend the metal lever on the corkscrew down and secure the top notch to the lip of the bottle. Gently begin to pull the other end of the corkscrew up so that the cork begins to slide out of the bottle. When the cork is about halfway out, place the bottom notch of the lever on the lip of the bottle and continue to pull the cork until it is completely out.
6. Remove the cork from the corkscrew by gently twisting it off in the opposite direction that you screwed it in. Save the cork to re-cork the bottle if you so choose.
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