Detailed explanation of wine bottle opening etiquette

For drinking wine, a very important lesson is how to open a bottle.

Who opens the bottle for business dining?

According to the usual practice, when you go to a restaurant to have a meal, the waiter can naturally do the work of opening the bottle. Before opening the bottle, the sommelier will ask the guests to read the wine label to confirm whether the wine is consistent with the wine ordered in terms of type and vintage, and then check whether there are any traces of wine leakage at the bottle cap and whether the wine label is clean. Open the bottle.

Open the bottle and take out the cork to let the guests see if the cork is wet. If it is wet, it proves that the bottle of wine has been stored in a reasonable way. Otherwise, it may deteriorate due to improper storage. Guests can also smell the cork for any peculiar smell, or conduct a tasting to further confirm the quality of the wine. After confirming that it is correct, the wine can be officially poured.

You can open the bottle by yourself for small parties and banquets

Homework before opening: the wine temperature should be appropriate

To enjoy grape wine, you must first remove the cork, but before opening the bottle, pay attention to whether the temperature of the wine is appropriate. The wine should be between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius. If you are in Europe and the United States, where the indoor temperature is suitable, the red wine does not need to be iced, but in hot places in summer, the red wine should be cooled slightly before opening a bottle for drinking. Don't shake the bottle before opening it to avoid sedimentation that will make the wine turbid.

Precautions for removing the lead seal

　　 When removing the lead seal, wipe the top of the cork slightly with a clean damp cloth to remove possible mold and dust. Inadvertently removing the lead seal will damage the beauty of the bottleneck. An improper corkscrew or clumsy opening techniques will damage the cork, causing the cork to fall into the wine and spoil the taste. The correct way to open the bottle should be to use a special knife attached to the standard corkscrew to remove the lead seal. The place to cut the lead seal should be on the convex part above the neck of the bottle, so as to prevent the wine from contacting the lead seal when pouring wine.

Keep quiet when drinking

When pulling out the wine cork, you can use the spiral screwdriver of the lever opener to lift the cork steadily and slowly. When the cork is about to leave the mouth of the bottle, use your hand to lift the cork.

is gently pulled out so that no loud noise will occur. In fact, you should keep working as quietly as possible during the whole process.

After drinking, don’t rush to drink

Do not drink immediately after opening the bottle, but leave it to dry for a while, the aroma of the wine will be more mellow. Only half an hour in advance is enough for the red wine in the mature period.

Aged wine usually has a fragile structure. Drink it as soon as possible after changing the bottle and removing the slag.

Please clean the bottle mouth after pulling out the cork

Pull out the cork forcefully and wipe it with a clean damp cloth. In addition to removing mildew ash and wood chips, since the metal seal will contain lead, this wipe will also

Remove the lead, so as not to dissolve the lead in the wine and be drunk when the wine is poured.

What should I do if the cork falls in?

Sometimes the corks are too dry due to improper wine storage, or the corks of aged wines have lost their elasticity. When opening the bottle, the corks will have crumbs or even break into the wine bottle. At this time, a fine mesh screen is needed to remove Filter the wine before drinking. If it is a large piece of falling, the broken cork can be taken out with a special triangular hook clip. If there is no small clip, let the broken cork stay in the bottle, it will not affect the wine quality in a short time.