The Corkscrew

We've all been there: on a junk in the middle of the ocean or dining in some remote secluded holiday hut, with a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread and … hang on, where's the corkscrew?

It won't matter if the bottle has a stelvin closure - better known as a screw-cap - but if not, what's a thirsty person to do?

Here are three tried and tested methods to get the wine flowing in the absence of a corkscrew.

No Jimmy Choos here, ladies. This requires a loafer or a trainer and a tree or a wall (not concrete). Take the capsule seal off the bottle. Insert the bottom of the bottle into the heel of the shoe. Holding the bottle in one hand and shoe in the other as one unit, firmly tap the heel of the shoe against the tree/wall. After a few minutes, voila! Pressure from the liquid will eventually push the cork out. This is not recommended for fine bottles of wine, as any sediment will be shaken up.

Not every Asian household has a corkscrew but almost all have chopsticks. You will need a pair, preferably of the bamboo variety, and a small saucepan. Stand your bottle of wine upright on a tea towel (this will keep it from moving) and remove the capsule seal. Put your chopsticks on top of the cork vertically. Gently tap the top of the chopsticks with the saucepan. When the cork is just about to fall into the bottle, stop. Hold the bottle in one hand at a 45 degree angle and, with your other hand, gently push the cork in the remainder of the way. A bit of the wine might gush out due to a change in pressure inside the bottle, so keep the tea towel wrapped around the neck.

Tonging is a bottle-opening technique often performed tableside by an experienced sommelier. It is showy and used for very old bottles of wine or port, where the cork might disintegrate with a corkscrew.