I currently use the Monopol Westmark wine bottle opener. It also doubles as a beer/soda bottle opener.
I accidentally stumbled upon Durand wine opener. Anyone have experience with these? Are they worth it? The cost is about 7x more than the Monopol Westmark.
Are they durable?
amazing. But I do wonder if they ever break. I’ve only used it for about 70-100 bottles since I got it a couple years ago. I only use it for wines younger than 25 years if the cork looks iffy, and for all corks 25+ years old
It depends on the ages of the wines you drink. If you mostly drink younger wines, it probably is not worth the cost and something like a screwpull is much easier to use. But, if you drink older wines with older corks, a Durand is a real wine saver. I cannot count how many bottles of older wine where I have gotten the cork out using my Durand even where someone else had already messed up the cork by trying something else first.
It is essential if you drink (or want to drink) wines 20+ years or older. I’ve had mine for 3+ years and opened 100+ older wines with it. If mine were to break today, I’d buy another one tomorrow…I would not wait, I would not delay…I think it is an essential tool for anyone that likes drinking aged wines.
I have never seen it NOT work. I bought several cases of '60s-'80s wines a couple years ago so I purchased a Durand and it has pulled the cork out in one piece every single time. Even on younger bottles purchased at auction(~15 years) that the cork cored out dry sawdust with a traditional corkscrew, I can salvage with the Durand. Expensive, but totally worth it!
I use it at least once every week I’m home, it seems like. But I have a bunch of older wine in the cellar, and drink it regularly. Other folks might not.
Santa Claus gave me one for XMas last year. I doubt I ever would have bought it for myself … until …
Had I known how freaking awesome it is, I would have bought one for myself the moment it came out. I use mine frequently, primarily because Arcadian corks that are 10 - 15+ yo have a tendency to break about 1/2" from the bottom (and we drink a lot of Arcadian). Mix-in the random assortment of other aged bottles, and I find it to be an invaluable tool in our household.