As a 21-year-old college student, I have had my fair share of wine gatherings. Classy I know. But here's the thing, wine openers aren't exactly a household commodity for our demographic. Its kind of the same as a crockpot or a vase, you don't really think to buy those things until you develop your "mom complex". You don't even realize how important wine openers are until you realize only 10% of the people you're friends with have some kind of version of one.
So, what happens when you have a fresh bottle of wine but no corkscrew? There are a few things you can do.
1. Buy wine with a screw top.
Yeah if you aren't going for a particular wine then just choose one with a screw top. It saves time and honestly what are you using the corks for besides a custom-made table that you'll never get around to making. But if you had this option, you probably wouldn't be reading this so move to number two.
2. Use a knife
This sounds scary at first, let me explain. You want a dull knife that you can kind of jam into the cork straight down. Turn the wine bottle on its side and twist in the same motion as you would a corkscrew, lightly pulling outward. This method takes patience but it's worked before. However, you also risk the possibility of completely shredding the cork in which you will need to move to number four.
3. Use an actual screw
This might seem like an obvious solution but if you twist a screw into the cork the same way you would a wine bottle opener then it applies a similar grip that a corkscrew would. To pull the cork out you will need to use pliers or something that could grip the screw securely.
4. Jam the cork into the bottle
This is probably the fastest but most desperate method to open a bottle but it does work, kind of. You literally just push the cork into the bottle but the problem is that when you try to pour the wine, the cork floats back toward the bottle opening. As you can imagine this makes wine pouring pretty messy and frustrating but can you really complain? You got your wine.
5. Shaking the bottle
I've never tried this method but apparently, you can open a wine bottle by shaking it and creating pressure that pushes the cork out. I'm not promoting this method though it's going to cause an accident that you're going to hate cleaning up.
Hopefully one of these solutions could help you when you're in a wine jam. It will take some determination, patience and a little creativity but I have faith in you.
