Middle Class Problems

I was pulled over at airport security last time we went through. "Madam, you have open bottles in your bag". Open bottles? No, surely not, even I'm not so forgetful. "Yes, madam, two open bottles". And in he fished to pull out 2 corkscrews. One is never enough.

Turning the bottle, not the cork....one of the best tips I've ever been given.

Yes Bags, I've drunk wine from a jam jar. It was a residential training weekend, party in a bedroom, not enough tooth mugs. A jam jar and a marmalade jar were liberated from the next mornings's breakfast table, emptied and washed. It was fine.

#longtimeago

Harrigran One always turns the bottle not the cork for champagne.

saw Samphire on the fish stall on the market yesterday .

£7 a pound , I nearly fell over with shock .

Needless to say i didn"t buy.

Agreed!

The incident I was referring to happened a long time ago before screw top wine bottles. If they had been drinking vintage champagne it would not have been a problem either, just remove the wire, hold the cork and turn the bottle ensuring cork leaves with a whisper like a maiden's sigh and not loud like a Duchesse's fart

Don't you just love it when the cork breaks off half way? Choices ...push it all the way in or dig it out a bit at a time? Or go for a screw top next time.?

Ten years ago, I was on a Ramblers' holiday in Portugal. When we were in a cork oak plantation, a local guide told us that there was a virus attacking the trees and that could put the growers out of business. Evidently this did not happen.

Actually on my last cruise I went on a trip in Spain or Portugal where we were told that local cork oak growers were being put out of business by plastic corks and screw tops.

Agreed! But unfortunately non of the premier cru wines seem to come in screw top bottles. But my tonic water does!
And surely ladyees, we wouldn't drink a 2nd cru wine , would we?

Unless sustainably obtained corks are used, screw tops are more ecologically sound.

Nothing wrong with screwtop bottles. You aren't going to get 'corked' wine from them! Most if not all NZ wine comes in screwtops (apart from the sparkling kind) and the quality is very good indeed. South American wines as well.

It isn't worse if the wine is good, galen

Wine is wine - however it comes - oops am I being working class there

That's even worse!

Wine boxes solve the corkscrew problem.

"Screw top bottles"!!!!!!!!!!!

Just buy your wine in screw top bottles! Or is that me being working class again.
It really, really is very tongue in cheek, a bit of fun. Except that I appear to fail my middle class entrance exams at every stage.

A corkscrew is not a detail! It's aasvital as your passport.

A large screw and a pair of pliers work well for opening bottles, I found in my youth....

absent really, Friday? Wow - thinking of you and your brain buzzing with last minute details! x

I've just packed away 3 sets of wine glasses still in their boxes which we got as extras for J's last birthday bash. They were £2 for a box of 6 from Asda - I ain't no snob . I always keep a spare bottle opener/cork screw in the car in case we I arrive somewhere which doesn't have the necessary, which can be very frustrating - I do own a ceremonial sword but not sure if I'd be safe wielding it towards a bottle.

Sorry about that I'll leave you to it then.........
Ha,ha,ha......

I forgot one once. Used a large hypodermic instead!

harrigran I always carry a corkscrew in my handbag for just such occasions. The cover of the spiral bit slots sideways into the top to make a handle and while it's not the best corkscrew in the world, it works okay if you don't have an ornamental sword handy. It also has a bottle opener bit. I must remember to take it out of my bag and put it somewhere else before I try to board a plane on Friday.

Talking about wine and the drinking of it. I know of someone who forgot the corkscrew when they went to a holiday villa but would not be beaten. Searching the house for a likely tool they came across an ornamental sword on the sitting room wall, one quick swish and the neck of the bottle was severed.