Ever wondered what’s the proper way to open a wine bottle?

Most people underestimate the importance of achieving a ‘clean’ open.

A ‘bad’ open can fracture and break the cork. The danger of this is that bits of it fall into the wine. You will then have to tediously remove the bits. That takes a bit of enjoyment off the actual drinking of the wine. We’re going to show you how a sommelier would open a wine bottle. The wine tool that we will use here is a ‘Double Hinge Corkscrew opener’ that you can get from any wine store.

Double Hinge Corkscrew opener

Once you’ve got the bottle and opener out on a table, follow the steps below for a clean open:

1- Cut the foil at the tip of the bottle. To do this, use the incision knife included in the Double Hinge Corkscrew. Proceed to cut the part marked with ‘2’ in the image above. Hold the bottle still and turn it rotate the knife around the bottle. Make sure to use your thumb to apply force to the incision knife.

2- Next you will need to plant the corkscrew into the cork of the bottle. Place the corkscrew vertically above the cork. Once it is vertical, rotate the corkscrew. You do not need to apply too much downward force, as you rotate it, the design of the corkscrew will pull it into the cork naturally. Stop when theres one turn of the corkscrew left.

3- Position the middle lever on the tip of the bottle. Pull the long leg of the tool upwards to unplug the cork halfway.

4- This step repeats step 3 but with the outer lever. Position the outer level on the tip of the bottle, and push the long leg of the tool upwards again. After this step, it should be easy enough for you to pull it out of the bottle.

5- Pour the wine into a glass. Sniff in the aromas and take a good sip. Enjoy the wine.

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