How to Open Wine Without a Corkscrew: 15 Methods That Actually Work

The holiday is around the corner, the bottle is chilling in the fridge, and the corkscrew has vanished as if swallowed by the earth. Sound familiar? It’s not merely an annoying mishap—it's a challenge. A challenge to your ingenuity, dexterity, and grasp of basic physics.

Before you run to the neighbors or the 24-hour shop, take a look around. The world is one giant bottle opener: from the knife in your kitchen drawer to the shoe in the hallway. Discard the user manual for ordinary life—here is your new operating guide.

Spoiler: you can pull the cork out, push it in, punch it out, burn it out, and even pump it out. The most elegant method uses a knife or a key. The most spectacular involves a shoe and a wall. The riskiest uses fire and water.

Emergency Tools—from Kitchen to Workshop

1. A Knife: Cold Steel versus Oak
Take a narrow knife, ideally with a serrated blade. Do not pick at the cork; instead, thrust the knife confidently into its center, as in a fencing lunge. The goal is to pierce through so that the blade becomes an improvised corkscrew. Wrap the handle in a towel for protection and grip. Now the main trick: hold the bottle by its neck with one hand and rotate the knife with the other—as though unlocking an ancient mechanical lock. The cork will begin to withdraw slowly, with a reluctant squeak. This method rewards patience and precision.

2. A Door Key: It Opens More Than Doors
A modern perforated key works best—its sharp edges are ready-made tools. Insert the key into the cork at a 45-degree angle, rocking as you go deeper. Do not force it; screw it in. Grip the bottle neck firmly and rotate the key clockwise. This is a miniature battle in which your grip determines the victor.

Insider tip from a sommelier: “Every one of these methods is barbaric to wine. Shaking, heating, and contact with metal or wood damage its structure. If you must choose the lesser evil, use a knife, a key, or a screw. At least they don’t agitate the liquid.”

3. Screw and Pliers: Brute Strength with Stubbornness
A DIY classic. Screw a long wood screw into the cork, leaving the head exposed. Grip it with pliers and pull. Not strong enough? Use leverage: press the bottle against your torso, slide the pliers horizontally under the screw head, and press down against your own thumb wrapped around the neck. The cork will crawl upward, leaving a bruise as a souvenir. There is always a price for pleasure.

4. Nail Scissors: Fragile Weapons
Open the scissors; stab one blade into the center of the cork and the other along its edge. You now have a makeshift compass. With spiral motions, force the cork inward until it drops. Extract the scissors. This method is for the desperate—and those unbothered by the fate of their manicure kit.

5. Shoe or High Heel: The French Method
Footwear isn’t just for walking. Place the bottle vertically into a sturdy shoe (heel facing up). Then strike the shoe’s heel against a wall—or wrap the bottle bottom in a towel and tap it instead. Inertia and pressure will do the rest: the cork will begin to emerge. Catch it when it’s halfway out, or face a Cabernet fountain. Perform this outdoors or in the bathroom.

6. A Pump: Physics to the Rescue
A bicycle pump or ball pump becomes a weapon of mass cork extraction. Insert the needle between cork and neck and pump several times. The air pressure inside will push the cork out. Just don’t overdo it, or you’ll be gathering glass shards around your kitchen.

Methods of Desperation: When All Else Fails

7. Just Your Finger—or a Marker
The most controversial technique. Shake or sharply tilt the bottle 8–10 times to build pressure. Set it on the table and push the cork inward with your thumb. Risk: your thumb may get stuck. Safer alternatives include any cylindrical object: a marker, mascara tube, or toothbrush handle. Push the cork down—it will float, but the wine will flow.

8. Fire and Water: Thermal Sabotage
With fire: remove the foil cap, wrap the neck with string soaked in alcohol or lighter fluid, and ignite. After 20–30 seconds, thrust it under cold water. The thermal shock may break off the bottle neck with the cork still inside. Perform over a sink. This is a trick for daredevils and pyromaniacs.

With water: place the bottle in a pot of water and heat it. Expanding air will push the cork out. Drawback: the wine becomes warm—excellent for mulled wine, terrible for Burgundy.

9. The Stationery Revenge: Paper Clips and Shoelaces
Bend two paper clips into hooks, slide them along the neck under the cork, hook it, twist the ends together, and pull. Or drive an awl through the cork with a shoelace tied in a knot, with the knot beneath the cork—then yank. Perfect for office workers and macro-surgeons.

What if the Cork Sinks?

If you chose the pushing method and now a wooden iceberg blocks the flow, don’t worry. Fashion a loop from a strong synthetic ribbon (like gift-wrap ribbon), lower it in, snare the cork, and pull it out as though landing a fish.

All these are emergency exits. They save the occasion but brutalize the wine. Sommeliers weep at such experiments. Wine is alive: it breathes, ages, and evolves. Shaking, heating, and cork fragments are rude invasions into its world.

Thus, the greatest life hack is simple: buy a corkscrew. Basic, levered, or electric—no matter. Keep it visible. Better yet, keep two. Because the next bottle always appears precisely when the only corkscrew is once again lost somewhere in the universe. Until then, remember: even a shoe may become your instrument for a small victory over circumstance.