I’m not a wine drinker, but I love to cook with wine, especially Merlot. I’d opened a brand new bottle on Sunday for the lasagna and set the bottle upright. I figured that since I found it that way in the grocery store, that was the way I’d store it. As it turned out, that was the wrong way because the cork dried up and expanded. Wine should be stored on its side to keep the cork wet.

The cork was so dry and rigid that it caused my corkscrew to snap. My mother-in-law was able to release the cork by holding it under lukewarm water for several minutes. Then she used a cork puller to pry it loose.