Tell me if you’ve experienced this. You’re on vacation and you just bought one of your favorite bottles of wine. You get back to your rental property, and you decided why wait? Let’s enjoy some wine now. You look around the kitchen for a wine opener, but you quickly realize there aren’t any. You even look in the garage, where you find a screwdriver and some screws. Can you open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver?
Yes, you can open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver! It’s actually quite easy as long as you have a screw to go along with it. Basically, you screw the screw into the cork, then gently pull the cork out by the screw.
Author Note: But there are a few more details to making sure you don’t break the cork and successfully open your bottle of wine. Lucky for you, we’ll go into full detail in this article. We’ll explain exactly how to open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver, as well as other tips and tricks for when you don’t have proper wine equipment.
Let’s get started.
Instructions for How to Open a Bottle of Wine with a Screwdriver
As we mentioned above, you can definitely open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver. But there are several tips and tricks that will help ensure you don’t break the cork or only remove a piece of it. Let’s go over exactly what to do.
Instructions
- Start by locating either a flat head or Philips head screwdriver and a corresponding screw. Ideally, the screw is at least two inches long and ⅛ to ⅙ inches wide.
- Remove the foil off your bottle of wine using a knife or simply by peeling it off.
- Begin screwing the screw into the cork with your screwdriver. The key is to screw it in at an angle. Screw it in at approximately a 30-degree angle. This will ensure it grips the cork effectively and will allow you to pull it out without breaking the cork. If you screw the screw in completely vertical, you have a much higher chance of breaking the cork or ripping the screw out before removing it.
- Screw the screw all the way in until it touches the other side of the bottle’s neck. Once you feel resistance, stop screwing! You don’t want to tear the cork.
- Now you can either use a towel and simply grip the end of the screw to pull it out or if you have a hammer you can use the hammer to pry it out.
- Either way, begin pulling the cork out very gently to make sure you don’t break the cork or tear the screw out.
- If your wine is sealed with a synthetic cork, your life will be much easier. Synthetic corks don’t break nearly as easily, which means you can pull them out faster/with more force.
- After pulling on the cork for several seconds it should come clear of the bottle. You’re done!
- Enjoy the wine you resourcefully opened.
How to Open a Bottle of Wine with a Knife
But what if you don’t have a screwdriver? Another common way you can open a bottle of wine is with a steak knife. Almost all houses have a steak knife, so don’t worry – we’ll help you get that bottle open. This method is a bit more difficult, however, so follow our steps closely.
Instructions
- First, you’ll need to find a sharp steak knife. We recommend using a traditional sized steak knife that’s about half an inch wide and relatively thin.
- Remove the foil off your bottle of wine using the knife or simply by peeling it off.
- Now pierce the cork with the tip of the knife and push the knife about an inch into the cork.
- Once the knife is securely in the cork, begin twisting the bottle in a circular motion to get the cork loose.
- After the cork is loose and you’ve got momentum spinning the bottle, begin slowly pulling the cork up and out of the bottle.
- You should make a little progress each time you twist the bottle. Don’t rush this process! If you pull too hard the knife will simply pull out of the cork and you’ll have to start over again. It’s also much harder to do if you’ve already pierced the cork once with the knife. So patience is a virtue.
- After several twists and pulls, the cork should be halfway out. At this point, you can either keep pulling with the knife to get the cork completely out, or you can usually just grab the cork with your fingers and pull it out the rest of the way.
- After the cork is out you can pull it off the knife and enjoy the bottle you resourcefully opened!
How to Open a Bottle of Wine with Scissors
Another last resort you can use to open a bottle of wine if you don’t have any sharp knives or a screwdriver is with a pair of scissors. That’s right! A pair of scissors can work in a pinch to open a bottle of wine. We learned this trick from one of our friends who’s an elementary school teacher. Let’s go over how to do it.
Instructions
- Look for a pair of scissors that are relatively sharp. They will also need to be thin enough to pierce a wine cork. If they’re too wide this method won’t work.
- Remove the foil off your bottle of wine using the scissors or simply by peeling it off.
- Now pierce the cork with the tip of one side of the scissors and push the blade about an inch into the cork. Be careful of the other side of the scissors! The other blade is also sharp and if you slip you could hurt yourself.
- Once the scissor blade is securely in the cork, begin twisting the bottle in a circular motion to get the cork loose.
- After the cork is loose and you’ve got momentum spinning the bottle, begin slowly pulling the cork up and out of the bottle.
- You should make a little progress each time you twist the bottle. Don’t rush this process! If you pull too hard the scissor blade will simply pull out of the cork and you’ll have to start over again. It’s also much harder to do if you’ve already pierced the cork once with the scissors. Have patience and do it right the first time!
- After several twists and pulls, the cork should be halfway out. At this point, you can either keep pulling with the scissors to get the cork completely out, or you can usually just grab the cork with your fingers and pull it out the rest of the way.
- After the cork is out you can pull it off the scissors and enjoy the bottle you opened!
General Tips When Opening a Bottle of Wine
Author Note: Now you know several ways you can open a bottle of wine without a wine opener. But we have more! Here are a few additional tips you should consider when opening wine in general. If you follow these you’ll be more likely to enjoy your wine to the fullest
Tips and Tricks
- The most efficient and effective way to open a bottle of wine is with a “waiter style” double-hinged bottle opener. There’s a reason why restaurants and waiters all use this style of wine opener! It’s because they work with almost every type of wine bottle, and allow you to open the bottle very quickly without risking any damage to the cork. Take a tip from the experts in the industry and skip all the fancy over the top wine bottle openers.
- Know the temperature of your wines! If your wine was recently in the wine cooler or a cellar, let it warm up to room temperature before serving it. Obviously, if you’re serving white wine or champagne that’s meant to be chilled, serve it chilled. But too many people pull their favorite red wine out of the wine cooler and serve it immediately. The flavor profile of a cold red wine is going to be way different than at room temperature. Like dethawing meat before cooking, take your bottles of red out of the cooler in the morning to let them warm up.
- Always give the wine a few minutes to breathe. This goes for all types of wine, from crystal clear whites to heavy reds. Letting the wine sit in your glass for 5 minutes is often enough for most young wines. But don’t just drink it all right after pouring! Letting your wine breathe will give you a more interesting tasting experience.
Parting Thoughts
Buying a bottle of wine then realizing you have no way to open it is one of the most frustrating things – especially if you’re on vacation. Lucky for you, you now know how to open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver, as well as several other ways you can safely open a bottle of wine without an opener. You can even open a bottle of wine with a spoon!
We hope you found this article informative and useful! If you have additional ways you’ve figured out how to open a bottle of wine without an opener or an easier way to open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver, let us know in the comments below.
Having several ways to open a bottle of wine in a pinch is never a bad thing! You might end up being the man or woman of the party
To living a full-bodied life,
Wesley
