Corks and screws
Necessity is the mother of invention. It was the Englishmen's fancy for beer and cider, which required close-corked storage, that led them to pioneer the invention of the corkscrew. The earliest reference to this handy device dates back to 1681.
Aiding and abetting
"Worm" is the term used for the hollow, single helix of metal for twisting
down into the cork. Solid metal worms – similar to a drill-bit or artisan's
screw – have been used, and still are, but they aren't as efficient and tend
to wreck the stopper, particularly if it is slightly brittle or dry. The prototype
"direct-pull" corkscrew is still around today and requires no more than a strong
arm and, possibly, two knees to wedge the bottle between. Engineering dating
back to the 1800s has given us the "assisted-pull" device, of which a multitude
of designs have evolved.
Waiter's friend – one up from the direct-pull, this simple device gets its name from the preference that catering staff hold for it. Economical and portable, it usually comes with fold-out foil cutter, worm and lever-arm. Fits snugly into the back pocket.
Butterfly, double-twist and other table models facilitate cork removal with various mechanisms of assisted-pull. Large variety of styles, from good quality to bad.
Pneumatic extractor – hydraulics are not limited to heavy machinery. A needle is pushed through the cork, followed by a few pumps, forcing air into the bottle and pushing the cork out. Potentially dangerous – store out of reach of children!
Butler's friend – a double pronged device which leaves corks undamaged. The prongs are eased between the cork and bottleneck. A gentle twist is needed to ease the cork up and out. Handy for removing broken and crumbling corks.
Screwpull Lever model – the 'Rolls Royce' of corkscrews. Very efficient, but pricey, bulky and a real stay-at-home, the Lever does all the work for you. It clamps around the neck of the bottle, slides its worm into the cork, extracts the stopper and removes it from the screw in just a few, quick, easy motions. Recommended if you want to show off, or if you have a lot of bottles to open.
Sometimes more is less, so pay for quality and it should last you a lifetime.
Foiled again
Foil capsules were once used to protect against cork weevils, but now are
merely cosmetic or a means of identification – mostly synthetic these days,
after lead capsules were outlawed for health reasons. Removing the capsule is
best done with a sharp knife or foil cutter (included with the waiter's friend,
and available as a separate accessory). Etiquette requires only the top few
millimetres of capsule be removed; some prefer to cut off a centimetre or two.
No need to apologise if all the foil peels away – keeping it in place has more
to do with aesthetics than law.
You know how to deal with the cork: aim the worm dead centre, screw in firmly until the full length of the cork has been penetrated, then pull. Cork crises do happen, though, and when conventional methods fail, all is not lost: if a broken cork or loose bung is beyond the capability or reach of the corkscrew, push the cork into the bottle, then hold it out of the way as you pour the wine (metal utensils not advisable for this purpose). Loose cork fragments can be scooped out of the glass or filtered off before pouring using paper coffee-filters or clean muslin cloth (wire sieves not recommended). Decanters can come in handy here, too.
The most idiosyncratic method of cork removal, if you don't have a corkscrew handy, was probably first used by a frustrated physics student: tip the bottle upside down or on its side and tap repeatedly, firmly on the underside of the bottle – you could use a rubber-soled shoe – until the cork is nudged out by the wine banging up against it. Probably not suitable for your prized bottle of Burgundy, however.
The bubbly bung
The pressure inside a bottle of bubbly is three times that in the tyre of
a double-decker bus – it's hardly surprising that Champagne corks are a common
cause of eye injury in France. Save your sight by holding your thumb firmly
over the cork while untwisting the wire muzzle. Ease the cork out slowly, grasping
the cork firmly and twisting the bottle, rather than vice versa – stubborn stoppers
can be dealt with by using a Champagne Star accessory to hold the cork more
firmly. No loud pop and fanfare, but this method is safer, results in less wastage,
and minimises the risk of breaking the cork.
With the cork out of the way, pour the sparkling wine slowly into a tilted glass, as you would beer, to preserve the bubble and avoid excessive frothing.
Tasting suggestion
With Port on the hit-list during the winter months especially, why not compare
the different styles from the Cape. Try a line-up of five wines: Vintage Reserve
(eg Die Krans, Bredell's or Overgaauw), Vintage (eg Axe Hill, Glen Carlou or
Vergenoegd), LBV (eg Bredell's), Tawny (eg Boplaas or Monis) and Ruby (eg Helderberg,
Morgenhof or Rooiberg). And add one or two from Portugal for good measure (eg
Fonseca, Graham's or Royal).
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Cork conundrum
The battle between natural cork and synthetic stoppers rages on. Traditionalists
maintain natural cork's elegance and ability to breathe outweigh the occasional
frustration of cork taint. They point out that artificial alternatives are not
eco-friendly, and detest the fake (and sometimes garish) colour and inelastic
quality. Synthetic supporters argue that wine lost due to taint is unacceptable,
that many New World wines are not made to last for decades and thus don't call
for the breathing ability of natural stoppers. Natural cork can dry and crumble
with time… The synthetics are slowly creeping onto supermarket shelves, but
wine producers remain hesitant to use artificial bungs for their flagships.
(It's arguable that a good screw-top would be the most hassle-free, but that
just wouldn't do for a really fine wine, now, would it!)
Cork taint is the unpleasant mouldy, musty smell and fruitless character caused by a powerful aromatic compound present in cork bark called Trichloranisole (TCA). It's suggested that the occurrence of TCA in cork may be aggravated by contact with chlorine during the washing process at the factory. Other theories suggest TCA taint could come from contaminated barrels (or bottles). Anything from 1% to 8% of wines on the market are said to be "corked" – statistics which have soured relations between wine producers and cork manufacturers.
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Tip of the month
Forcing a cork (the real thing) back into the bottle-neck to store left-overs
can fray tempers. Rather re-insert using the dry end of the cork (this will
not have swollen through contact with the wine), or place the entire cork in
boiling water for a few minutes. Then store the bottle standing up rather than
lying it down.
