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Video(s): How To Open Wine Without a Corkscrew

Have you seen this video of a Frenchman opening a bottle of wine with nothing more than a shoe and a wall? It's been all over the internet the last few days. We were very impressed by the effective brute simplicity of his method, but it turns out that people have been using similar ways of taking out a cork for a long time. See two more videos below!

 
 

With a tree....

...and with a phone book!

Do you have any other creative (and simple!) ways of opening wine when caught without a corkscrew?

Related: Julia Child Improvises (With Blowtorch) on Letterman

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Video, Wine, cork, wine, wine bottle, corkscrew, how to open wine, open wine

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Comments (22)

Wow that is pretty clever!!!
I've read before that you can open a bottle of wine just running the top under hot water? I'm not sure though..

posted by plumeria on November 13th 2009 at 9:19am
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Did you running low on relevant things to discuss??? Maybe it is time to start recycling older stories.

posted by Pierre on November 13th 2009 at 9:23am
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I have found myself in this situation so many times! Definitely will have to try the shoe trick.

posted by stealthkitten on November 13th 2009 at 10:09am
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There's also the screw and hammer technique if you have tools around. I bet this will come in handy sometime!

posted by purdygirl on November 13th 2009 at 10:13am
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That's hysterical. Geeze, Pierre, every party has a pooper...

posted by akay on November 13th 2009 at 10:14am
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Seems like a good party trick, probably only try it once on a cheap bottle... just in case I use too much force.

posted by somewhiteguy on November 13th 2009 at 10:22am
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this is great to know, thanks!

posted by elbow on November 13th 2009 at 10:48am
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That's a great trick!! Thanks. And Pierre, some of us appreciate the trick. It's novel and one day, you can impress your friends, too!!

posted by Wishin' I was in MIA on November 13th 2009 at 10:57am
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This would've come in handy before I bought my nice corkscrew...but I'd be way too freaked out about ending up with shattered glass and wine everywhere.

posted by engill on November 13th 2009 at 11:05am
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I once witnessed a Czech winemaker open a bottle with a full sized axe. Lopped the top clean off.

posted by popsicle on November 13th 2009 at 12:31pm
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I wish I had this trick freshman year of college, when someone had gotten their underage hands on a bottle of wine but none of us could figure out how to open it, since we only had beer bottle openers. Memories...

posted by gourmandizzy on November 13th 2009 at 1:11pm
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Brilliant. I've seen all sort of tricks for opening bottles of beer (cigarette lighter, another beer bottle, the side of a table), but never for wine.

posted by MrsCatbird on November 13th 2009 at 1:49pm
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I love how tipsy they all seem in those videos. but how did they get so drunk if they didn't have a corkscrew?

posted by lcg on November 13th 2009 at 5:34pm
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I have been in this predicament so many times. Love the ingenuity and physics of it all. Reminds me of a squirrel with a nut.

posted by aftermath on November 13th 2009 at 6:12pm
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My sister and I have used our patented "mascara" trick for years (we only buy thin tubes of mascara, they are sturdy and fit inside the neck of a bottle of wine) to push in the cork when corkscrew-less.

You just have to finish the bottle in one sitting, since the cork is now floating inside the bottle of wine. Still, if you do it right (handy trick when camping, or traveling in foreign countries late at night), you won't spill a drop. Just position the tube of mascara over the cork, push down, voila.

I like this method better, though.

posted by Kate H. on November 13th 2009 at 8:47pm
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great trick! next time i know what to do. thanks

posted by milktea on November 14th 2009 at 3:59am
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That's hilarious. I love how the second guy reaches up and plucks a wine glass out of the tree.

posted by Mlle Kate on November 16th 2009 at 9:36pm
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Totally agree with you, gourmandizzy.

Those were the days.

But hey, you never know when the knowledge might come in handy again.

posted by Evergirl on November 17th 2009 at 7:17am
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How fun! I appreciate the lightheartedness of this post. Pierre's such a hater.

posted by PaleyGirl on November 17th 2009 at 8:12am
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a pool cue will work if you don't mind drinking a little bit of cork...

posted by laurenlosefast on November 17th 2009 at 5:22pm
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IF only this was posted 2 weeks ahead... my family was in Vegas and got complimentary bottles of wine but were offered a corckscrew for $3!! Probably wouldnt have impressed my parents that much, but they would have been secretly proud!

posted by asked you first on November 18th 2009 at 5:09am
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A few more videos here: http://winedigger.blogspot.com/2009/06/opening-bottle-without-corkscrew-mode.html

The 4th one from the top is priceless! :)

Alex.

posted by alexandre on November 18th 2009 at 1:10pm
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