apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've seen this tip to uncork a bottle of wine before, but I always wonder -- if you are somewhere that you don't have a corkscrew, what are the chances that you WILL have a hammer and a screw?

Anyway, when I found myself in a hotel room with a bottle of red and no corkscrew, I used a pair of scissors (a pen might work too) to push the cork into the bottle. Not very neat and definietly a little ghetto, but served its purpose!

I've actually used the screw hammer=corkscrew method before. We'd just helped a friend move into a new apartment and he wanted to have a bottle of wine with his delivery pizzas. The toolbox was right there, whereas the corkscrew was buried in one of three "kitchen" boxes.

How to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew? Simple. Buy screw-top wine. It's better than you'd think! :)

Speaking of the less-than-classy ways of opening the bottle, I've actually used a nice quality ball-point pen (like a fake Mont Blanc type) and the bottom of my shoe! I know - tacky, tacky, tacky...and a little desperate. Just unwrap, hold the pen on the cork, and tap the cork into the bottle by hitting the pen with the shoe. Just like the professionals!

I have opened bottles with coat hangers.

I am not proud of this.

i've used a screw and a pair of plyers. twist the screw into the cork and ta-da! wine at a construction site!