Clingfilm trick with wine is a real corker

IT IS the scourge of dinner parties and restaurants across the country. But a ball of clingfilm may turn out to be the solution to every sommelier's nightmare of corked wine.

A Scottish wine merchant says it has revived an old butler's trick in which a sheet of clingfilm is rolled into a ball and put into the decanted bottle of corked wine in order to restore it to full health.

Exel Wines is now hoping to create a wine first aid kit for disasters such as corked wine, as well as a step-by-step video on how to make a corked bottle of wine drinkable again.

Russell Wallace, operations manager of Exel Wines, said corking can "be caused by a number of factors including the cork, storage or how old the bottle is, but in some cases it can be brought back to life."

Wallace said he is convinced it really works. "We've put it to the test and found that it's really effective, if a little unusual. I can only think it's down to the electrostatic effect of the clingfilm. Unfortunately, there is a stage where the wine is 'past the point of no return'."

Tom Cannavan, wine expert and owner of the Wine Pages, said a number of wine experts used it, with varying degrees of success. He also pointed out that "not every type of clingfilm works," but said it can restore a bottle of corked wine to a certain degree.