To open wine, use a waiter's friend (sommelier knife) for corks; for a screw cap, no tools are needed — just twist by hand. Screw caps are easy and reliably consistent, which is why many wines now use them.
Opening a cork (with a waiter's friend)
(1) Cut and remove the foil with the knife → (2) set the worm's tip in the centre of the cork → (3) turn straight down to drive it in → (4) brace the lever on the bottle lip and lift the cork out using leverage.
What if the cork breaks?
If the cork breaks partway, insert the worm again at an angle and lift it out. Even if a piece falls into the bottle, it has almost no effect on the wine's quality — pour through a tea strainer to be safe.
Swirl's commitment to cork quality
Most of Swirl's producers use "technical corks" — natural cork treated with cold CO2 to remove the sources of taint and mould. As a result, fewer than 0.02% of our bottles are returned for cork faults in a year. Back when only old-style natural cork was used, that rate could be far higher. Precisely because our wines travel up to four months from Europe to Japan, we want them to arrive in perfect condition — it would be such a shame for one to spoil on the way!
Handy wine tools
A waiter's friend, a wine stopper and the like are useful to have. For storage after opening, see how to use up leftover wine.
FAQ
Q. Are screw-cap wines cheap wines?
A. Not at all. They preserve freshness and open easily, so even high-quality wines actively use them.
Comments (0)
There are no comments for this article. Be the first one to leave a message!