Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [109]
They’re also not that hard to open with some practice. And since you are probably reading this in the United States, where most of the quality wines, even at everyday prices, are sold in bottles, you will get plenty of uncorking practice. Here is how to do it, step by step.
Openers
I am frequently asked, “What’s the best wine opener?” For most wine lovers I recommend the first two of the following choices.
WAITER’S FRIEND For portability, I like and always carry a “waiter’s friend,” so-called for its compact design with both the augur, or screw, and blade (for cutting the capsule cover on the bottle top) folded into the handle like a pocketknife. It may take a little practice to get comfortable using it, but make it fun by tasting lots of different bottles along the way.
The technique—using a Waiter’s Friend corkscrew
Open the blade, and cut off the top of the capsule (also called a foil because it is sometimes made from a foil-like metal; plastic is also commonly used). This is the covering that stretches like a skin over the top of the bottle. The best place to cut is below the bottle neck’s bottom “lip,” the ridge of glass that sticks out slightly near the bottle opening. Cutting below this lip prevents the wine from coming in contact with the capsule when you pour, which might wash into the glass small capsule pieces or any mold that is clinging to the capsule.
Wipe the bottle opening with a cloth or paper towel. It’s perfectly normal to see a bit of mold or condensation there, so just clean it off.
Close the blade, extend the augur screw, and push the tip a little way into the cork to get it started. From there, twist the handle to screw it in—all the way, so that the curved part of the augur is nearly buried in the cork (this will feel funny to lefties, because most corkscrews are engineered to twist in clockwise). If you only go halfway you may get only half a cork. This also helps you get the lever on the end of the corkscrew close to the bottle opening, for the next step.
Extend the hinged metal lever at the end of the corkscrew, and anchor it against the bottle top. It is notched to help it stay in place, but hold it there by grasping around the bottle top with your nondominant hand, as you would grip a baseball bat.
With your other hand, pull up on the handle. The lever pushes against the bottle lip, so it’s easy to lift most corks without brute force. For extra-stubborn corks, take your time and be patient. Sometimes you can loosen the seal by wiggling or rocking the corkscrew.
A few special notes:
Opening flange bottles: These are the bottles that many mass-market wineries use, with a flange, or lip, that flairs out at the top of the bottle. They usually have no capsule, but instead a paper or wax seal. Don’t remove the seal before opening the bottle. Just insert the augur right through the seal. Waiter’s Friend corkscrews work best with this bottle type.
Opening synthetic corks: You may have seen these closures made of a smooth, plasticlike material. Open them as you would a normal cork—the augur goes right in.
SCREW-PULL AND LEVER-PULL For home use, these corkscrews are among the fastest and most popular (I rarely use them because I am so accustomed to the Waiter’s Friend, though I find the Lever-pull speedy for opening many bottles at once, say for a party or tasting). They have an extra-long, thin augur, usually covered with a nonstick coating. With the Screw-pull, twisting the handle inserts the augur. Continued twisting causes the cork to slide up the augur, so you need never pull on the cork to raise it. With the Lever-pull, instead of twisting, the user gives one quick stroke with the lever to penetrate and remove the cork. Both models work well on all but the most fragile corks,