How to open a bottle

To fully enjoy the pleasure of savouring a good wine, some important aspects need to be considered when extracting a cork stopper. Depending on the age of the bottle, we will find cork stoppers in various different conditions. In younger wines, we will find cork stoppers that are still very robust. In more mature wines, the cork stoppers will have softened, and finally, in very old wines, generally with a bottle age of more than 35 years, weaker corks will be found, as their internal structure has become quite fragile. These stoppers are more difficult to remove because they may break during extraction. In the case of very old wines, heated tongs can be used to cut the bottleneck as an alternative to the corkscrew, without needing to extract the cork closure.

Whenever a corkscrew is used, whether for young or very old wines, it must be ensured that the corkscrew has a perfect vertical extraction force.
The double-pull “sommelier” corkscrew is quite common and always allows a vertical cork extraction. There are other models that do not use a pull action but always function vertically. For really fast and effective extraction, there are corkscrews, such as the “Rabbit” model by Metrokane™, that do all the work in just a few seconds and do not require great effort. Blade corkscrews, which extract the cork closure from the sides, in other words without damaging its internal structure, can be used in wines of any age, but specially when opening older wines that may have weaker stoppers.

Rabbit	Velvet	Double pull corkscrew	Blade Corkscrew

One of the main parts of a corkscrew is its spiral. This has to be at least 7 cm in length to be able to deal with longer corks and should have a sharp point. In terms of material, the spiral must be slender, completely smooth, without sharp edges and made from a single piece. Spirals with a coating of PTFE (Teflon™) or similar material are the most recommended, as they pierce the cork with ease, without damaging its internal structure.

The bottle should be opened with care and serenity:

1st, remove part of the capsule that protects the bottleneck, to more or less 1 cm below the top

2nd, carefully clean the bottleneck and top of the cork stopper with a clean cloth, especially if it is an old bottle

3rd, carefully insert the corkscrew into the centre of the stopper, as deeply as possible, but without perforating the bottom of the stopper.

This last operation cannot be completed with some types of corkscrews that do not use a pull action. With these models, to correctly extract the cork stopper, it always needs to be perforated. The drawback of this type of corkscrew is that a few particles of cork might drop into the wine, particularly if it is an older stopper. However, it should be noted that these small particles are harmless and have no aroma or taste.
If this does happen, they are normally poured into the first glass, therefore this first glass should be served to the host. In the case of sparkling wine, the bottle must be opened with care, without agitating it, in order to be able to enjoy all the qualities of the wine. After removing the muselet (the wire cage that covers the cork), the cork stopper must be held firmly. Next, the bottle, and not the cork, must be turned, in order to prevent an exaggerated twist of the cork stopper. When it comes out, the stopper will make an unmistakable sound, - pop! – a reason for joy and pleasure for the senses which is only possible due to the presence of cork.