Curse Of The Hungarian Cork

At first I thought it was the "Curse of the Hungarian Corkscrew" after the first bottle of wine refused to budge neither cork nor screw. The cheap corkscrew ended up embedded in the cork and snapped off from it's mother-implement.

Read moreNow I know it must be some sort of hardened cork to blame. How else can I explain the disfigurement of my trusty Swiss Army Knife that has opened so many bottles of both wine and beer for the last couple of decades.

The breaking of a corkscrew is upsetting in several ways. Not least the fact that a tool designed specifically for the job has not done its job. There is also the moment of dawning realization that you could also be out of pocket on the wine as well. It just sits there, cork jammed in tight.

Luckily on both occasions I managed to persuade the cork that if it didn't want to come out, perhaps it would give in to going in. There are two small problems with this method. The first of note (and quite surprising when it happens) is the fountain of wine that spurts up once the enourmous pressure succeeds. The second is that the wine then becomes slightly "corky" and "bitty".

I may be down about the loss of my trusty corkscrew but still feel triumphant and victorious over the weekend's battle of the bottle.