Port tongs
A port wine tongs ( Portuguese Tenaz ) are special tongs for opening wine bottles that are closed with a cork . The tongs are heated over a fire and pressed around the neck of the bottle for about 20-30 seconds. Then the pressure point is quickly cooled with a damp cloth or ice water. By thermal shock the glass usually breaks, with a smooth, well-defined breaking point. Any glass splinters that have fallen into the bottle must be removed by decanting .
The pliers are used when the cork cannot be pulled with a normal corkscrew without whirling up the deposit , destroying the cork or the bottle, for example because the cork has become brittle and brittle through aging or because it is too tight in the Bottle sits. This is particularly common with alcohol-fortified wines such as port wine , as these wines have a much longer shelf life than normal wine and the bottles are therefore often stored for decades. In principle, however, the pliers can also be used for any other bottle.
Port wine tongs are rarely found. Only very well equipped wine drinkers or pubs have such an instrument. As a simpler alternative method, if the problem is a stuck cork, either break the cork and carefully pour away any crumbs that have fallen into the bottle, or press the cork into the bottle. Another alternative is to heat the neck of the bottle directly with a blowtorch (and then cool it down), in which case, however, the temperature control via the glow color of the tongs metal is missing.
The port tongs were invented in the Douro region .
Web links
- Anders Källberg: The making of port tongs. German: Production of port wine tongs. In: Wine Lovers Page . 2004, accessed on August 25, 2012 .
- Abertura de Porto Vintage a fogo com tenaz. (Video) German: Opening an old port wine with fire and port wine tongs. In: YouTube . February 25, 2012, Retrieved August 25, 2012 (Portuguese).
- Image of port tongs
- Opening process in the professional field
Individual evidence
- ↑ Glossário: Tenaz. (No longer available online.) In: Especialização em Produção Enológica . Archived from the original on September 8, 2011 ; Retrieved August 25, 2012 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
