The Zip Tie Trick To Rescue A Floating Cork In Your Wine Bottle

You're headed to a friend's house with several bottles of wine in the backseat of the car. Perhaps you're already thinking about pouring a glass for yourself when you arrive, as you sit on their back patio while the sun sets. You're sleeping over, so maybe you'll be a little greedy with each pour. You start humming the lyrics to the classic Billy Joel song "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant": "A bottle of white, a bottle of red / Perhaps a bottle of rosé instead." Then you turn up the radio and smile to yourself as another one of your favorite songs comes on: "Red Red Wine." 

When you arrive at your friend's house, feeling prepared to let loose, you begin to unload your wine bag but realize you were not as prepared as you thought. You forgot a corkscrew. Your friends inform you that they've become beer drinkers since you last saw them and can't find their corkscrew. You wonder whether you'll have to abandon the drinks you had in mind, as you don't want to leave the cork swimming inside of the bottle. You breathe a sigh of relief as your friend tells you that she just learned about a quick, effortless trick that will allow you to remove a cork from inside a bottle of wine without needing a corkscrew. This way, if you'd like to put the cork back in the bottle later, you're not strapped. 

What is this technique and how does it work?

If you're feeling any anxiety after thinking about that experience, have no fear. Or, if you're feeling fearless, then you may already have some tools in your toolkit when it comes to removing a cork from a wine bottle, whether it's resorting to using tweezers, a hanger, scissors, a shoe, a screwdriver, or simply shoving the cork into the bottle. If you're truly desperate, you may have resorted to using a drill. But there is an easier way to get rid of that corkscrew and save it from inside the depths of the bottle, in case there is a chance you don't plan on finishing off every bottle and want to re-insert the cork to save some wine for another day. 

Thanks to the YouTube channel Hacks World, you can try using the strapping, or plastic ties, that often come wrapped around shipped packages to retrieve the cork. Alternatively, you can use zip ties. One YouTube user commented, "Thanks I tried about five different ideas from YouTube videos and this one worked fast, within three seconds I had the cork out. And mine was a one and a half inch Craft bottle. THANKS AGAIN!" 

If there is a cork taking a bath inside your wine bottle, you'll need ties that are lengthy, not too thick, and sturdy. It may take a little practice, but you'll have to make sure the cork is located near the neck of the bottle. The more wine that is left inside the bottle, the better; so don't start chugging your cork-filled wine bottle yet. If you don't have ties from a package, you can try tying two to four zip ties together to form a circular ring to help you retrieve the cork.  

Using two fingers, squeeze each side of the ring together and begin slowly dropping the circular ring you've created into the wine bottle's neck. Try tipping the bottle so that you can get the cork to remain vertically aligned with the neck. Once the cork is essentially standing up, try to hook the zip tie underneath the cork. Once the tie is beneath the cork, you can begin lifting it out of the neck of the bottle. It will take a little strength to yank the cork out, but linking the zip ties will make the technique a little easier. Be careful that you grab the bottle tightly so that it doesn't break. Once you rescue the cork, you can sip back, relax, and pour yourself a glass of wine.