Wine · Terminology
Uncorking
Opening a bottle — cutting the capsule, drawing the cork cleanly, and not shooting anything across the room.
Uncorking is simply removing the closure from a bottle, but it is the part of service most likely to go wrong in public. The standard tool is the waiter's friend: a foil cutter, a worm, and a two-step lever that pulls the cork straight rather than at an angle.
The sequence is fixed: cut the capsule below the lip, wipe the bottle neck, drive the worm in slightly off-centre and stop before it punches through, lever in two stages, and ease the last centimetre out by hand so it comes free quietly.
In practice
- Cutting below the lip means the wine never touches the capsule on its way out.
- Old, fragile corks are better handled with a two-pronged (Ah-So) puller, which grips the sides instead of piercing the middle.
- Sparkling wine is different: keep a thumb on the cork, remove the cage (six half-turns), and twist the bottle, not the cork, easing it out with a sigh rather than a bang.
- A cork that breaks is a nuisance, not a fault — re-enter at an angle, or push it in and decant.
Where you'll meet it
- Restaurant service, where presenting the cork is a courtesy, not an inspection ritual.
- Any bottle old enough for the cork to have softened.
- Sabrage, the theatrical alternative for sparkling wine.
Service order, properly
- Present the bottle to the host, label visible, so they can confirm producer and vintage.
- Cut the capsule below the lower lip; wipe the rim.
- Draw the cork, quietly, and set it beside the host.
- Taste a small pour yourself if you are the sommelier — this is where cork taint gets caught before it reaches the table.
- Pour for the host, then clockwise around the table, host last.
The exam angle
- Service questions want the order and the reason for each step: capsule below the lip to avoid contamination, cork presented for the host to check, first taste to screen for taint.
- For sparkling wine, safety is the marked point: never point the bottle at anyone, keep a hand on the cork from the moment the cage comes off.
- Old bottles that need decanting should be stood upright for a day beforehand so the sediment falls.