You might think that opening a bottle with this type of closure is obvious. It was for us too, but then we consulted specialized sites and manuals, especially in English, which propose various solutions, some quite strange, which are adopted by many professionals.

In our article, we have collected the main tips on how to open a bottle of wine that has a screw cap. Specifically, we have identified 3 methods among those proposed by magazines and professional sommeliers! We anticipate that only one, the first, seems the most appropriate to us.

3 ways to open a bottle of wine closed with a screw cap

As you can see from the cover image, the screw cap is made up of two metal parts (usually aluminum): an upper part, the cap, with a screw thread, and a lower support part, which covers and wraps part of the surface of the neck of the bottle. The two sections are joined by a small serrated band, which is designed to facilitate the opening of the bottle, through the separation of the two parts just described.

Now let's see how to open wine bottles with this type of cap.

Method 1: Open the bottle of wine as if it were water

This method of opening the bottle of wine is the most intuitive. It is the same method used to open a bottle of water or any other drink closed with a screw cap. In our opinion, it is also the most practical one!

With one hand, grasp the "body" of the bottle, while with the other, grasp and then rotate the upper part of the capsule, the cap. By rotating, you separate the upper part from the lower part of the capsule.

The operation is not always so easy because it can happen that the serration is so strong that it requires a little more force to give the cap the rotation necessary to open the bottle. In any case, using this method, you should not have any problems!

Method 2: Open the bottle of wine as suggested by Wine Spectator

By consulting the main international wine sites and magazines, we found articles and videos that caught our attention. The famous American magazine Wine Spectator, for example, created a short video on How to Open a Bottle - The Screwcap which shows an alternative way to open a bottle of wine with a screw cap:

1. with one hand, grab the base of the bottle;

2. with the other, grab the "neck" of the bottle, in particular the lower part of the capsule, the one under the cork;

3. rotate the base of the bottle;

4. you should hear a series of "clicks" that indicate that you have overcome the resistance of the serrated part that separates the two sections of the capsule. At this point, thanks to the screw thread, you can rotate and remove the cork without effort.

This solution surprised us and honestly does not convince us completely, but considering the prestige of the source, we thought it was useful to report it. In our opinion, the first method is the most convenient and practical, while all the other alternatives seem to complicate the process. But we repeat: this is our opinion!

Mode 3: Hybrid solutions

There are sommeliers and experts who suggest other possibilities that represent a mix of those proposed in the previous paragraphs. The solutions that we report come from important sources, professional sommeliers and wine experts.

Some sommeliers think that you should rotate the base of the bottle with one hand, while with the other you should grasp the cork, that is, the upper part of the bottle. Or again, some sommeliers suggest grasping the bottle at the base and in the lower area of the capsule, but rotating the latter and not the base of the bottle.

We have expressed our preference on the way to open a bottle of wine with a screw cap. And you, how do you usually open a bottle with a screw cap? Let us know!