Woman hailed genius after sharing wine bottle hack

With the long-awaited end to Dry January just around the corner, I'm sure many of us are beyond buzzing to crack open a much deserved bottle of vino.

Now, you don't need to be a sommelier to know that the sour taste of oxidised wine is pretty grim but, to remedy the age-old problem, one woman - who has since been dubbed a genius - has come to the rescue to share her handy wine bottle hack.

You might only fancy a single glass of Sauvignon Blanc to take the edge off after a particularly stressful day in the office, avoiding the temptation - on this occasion - to knock back the entire bottle...

But for those who are new to the world of wine and are acclimatising their tastebuds to smokey Tempranillos and sweet Moscatos, a fully-functioning wine-stopper might not be on hand.

Fear not, however, as one TikTok star has discovered an innovative solution of savouring the quality of an opened bottle of wine.

Apparently, all you need to savour the flavour is the lid from a bottle of water.

Chantelle Fen - a British content creator and TikTok star - last year uploaded the tutorial video, which has remained viral online ever since.

"I don't know who need to know this but... you can use water bottle lids on WINE BOTTLES", she wrote on the video, which has accumulated a colossal 630,000+ likes already.

And experts have since been dosing out explanations of exactly WHY water bottle lids are more efficient at preventing than the screw-top wine lid itself in scenarios where a bottle stopper isn't on hand.

Not only is it a cost-effective/free solution, some water bottle lids - particularly those from sports beverages (think Lucozade Sports lids that allowed you to aim and fire a stream of water at your classmates back in the day) - can snugly fit the neck of many wine bottles.

All you have to do is make sure your delicious bottle of red, white or rosé has been opened, and you have a water bottle with plastic screw-on lid to hand.

Be sure to make sure the lid of the water bottle of clean, particularly if it's not a bottle that you yourself purchased - we don't want no Corona 2.0 flying around.

Rinse it out - ideally with dish soap and hot water - and let it dry properly.

Then, gently screw or press the water bottle onto the wine bottle opening, being sure to check the seal is tight to prevent air from entering and affecting the wine.

This is the most important step as a good seal will keep your wine super fresh for a much longer period.

If it's not properly sealed (air-tight, that is), then the two minutes you spent reading this article have been pretty pointless... good luck in savouring your flavours!