Via Boing Boing comes this video on how to open a bottle of wine if you don’t have a corkscrew. Granted these French gentlemen clearly don’t need another bottle, but this tactic is useful if you don’t have an opener on hand.
One time while I was living in Kosovo, the owner of a small restaurant opened a bottle of my wine for me this way. Their corkscrew was broken, so the owner just wrapped a towel around the base of the bottle and proceeded to bang it against a brick wall until the cork came out. It worked, but I was a bit concerned as the bottle I brought was a very nice Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Seeing it for the first time was a bit of a shock, but I have never forgotten this trick. I am sure it isn’t great to agitate the wine so much and I still wouldn’t do this to a fine bottle of wine, but in a pinch it might be the only option.
You can also perform this against a tree trunk if you are out in nature or another hard surface, but wherever you do it, be careful to pad the bottom and strike it flush against the surface.
