Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Calling All Etiquette Experts: What Would You Do?

If a guest brings you a wonderful bottle of French wine, and you can't find a bottle opener, is this acceptable?

Note: Etiquette experts around the world are flocking to this site, so you may have to be patient. If the video box doesn't show up, here's a link.



4 comments:

James said...

I do believe that the parlor trick is a time honored tradition at dinner parties in even the most fine of houses. Given this fine tradition and the high duty of a host or hostess to make his or her guests most comfortable (in this case, by serving the delightful bottle of wine they brought to dinner), I assert that cleverly using a shoe to open the bottle - while keeping it free of cork! - is appropriate at a dinner party when no corkscrew is available.

James
http://www.everydaycorrespondence.com

Arden Clise said...

I think this is pretty fun. I'm not sure I'd want someone pounding their shoe against my wall, but I'd get a good laugh out of the technique.

Bottom line, always have a corkscrew. A good host would never be without one.

Christopher said...

If a guest brings me a host gift, even if it's a bottle of wine, I always assume it's for me, and not to share at the party that evening. So it doesn't really matter if I have a working wine key or not. I'd probably keep it and drink it another time, which I had a functioning key.

Carol Bory said...

How clever! If a neighbor does not have a corkscrew to borrow, this is a great backup plan!

Thanks for sharing.