Uncorking Wine

Using a corkscrew is a dying art, not often needed these days with screw-tops pretty universal (at least in my price range), but last night a bottle of Rioja was unearthed from the back of the cupboard stoppered with a cork that disintegrated further with every attempt to extract it, leaving me no alternative but to unscrew some Merlot instead; my wife later resumed battle with the Rioja and managed to force entry at a cost of some debris entering the bottle, but tonight when I poured a glass it was reminiscent of many a 1970’s party (when we often hacked a cork to bits and pushed it in picking out the big floaters and spitting out or swallowing the sinkers) however being more particular these days I decanted the wine into the cafetiere, using the plunger to filter it for consumption – a cheeky number redolent of smoky blackberry with just a hint of coffee bean.