Durand tips for a newbie?

So, after years of hearing miraculous tales of the powers of the Durand, I’ve finally mustered the strength to conquer my cheapskate nature (for the moment) and order one.
From the web site, it looks elegantly simple. However, like many gadgets, I’m sure there are nuances and subtleties to getting the most out of it. Curious if any experienced users here can share tips and techniques?

Super easy to use. Start with getting the screw portion as centered as possible (not critical), and then rock the prongs back and forth (like you do with an Ah-So). Gently turn and pull. I’m guessing that the website says exactly the same thing, so nothing new or learned tricks.

It’s pretty much a fool-proof tool and I have never lost a cork. Make sure to wipe the inside of the neck, as bits of cork may remain.

You will love the Durand. In my opinion, worth every penny.

There really isn’t a lot of magic to it if you’re familiar with using both a worm/screw opener and a prong opener, but -

1. Read the instructions. If you don’t, you will try to put the prongs through the slots on the “worm” piece. Those are only for storage. The prong piece goes perpendicular to the worm piece, which you don’t need me to tell you if you read the instructions but which everyone who doesn’t read them gets wrong.

2. You don’t need to push very hard to get the worm in (most of the time) and the older the cork, the more likely excess pressure will push it trough the neck and into the bottle. Use as light a touch as you can and still get the worm started.

It is shockingly easy to use. It does seem complex. It’s very easy to get the metal slides around the side of the cork and the cork comes out super easy by jiggling it back and forth. Brilliant device. The only thing I have not figured out is how to use it with the wax topped wines where the cork is all dried out.

Don’t try to use the ah so part through the slotted part of the worm that holds them in the package. (Most important!)
This is the most common error.

Put the worm in first all the way to the bottle top. Step one.

Then use the ah so part at an angle of 90 degrees or so to the worm. Not in the slots!

Put the ah so all the way down to the worm by rocking back and forth.

Connect the two together by twisting. The ah so will connect with the worm.

Grab BOTH the ah so and worm as a unit and twist and lift.

This will extract the cork.
Hopefully this helps.

In addition to what Tom said;

insert the screw portion all the way in, same for the prongs. Turn the prongs 1/4 turn first to break the seal between glass and cork. then grab the prongs and screw head together and rotate and pull up at the same time. Keep rotating as you pull up slowly. Keep a close eye on movement of the cork especially for the last couple of centimetres as this is where any issue is likely to arise. Go slowly and carefully and don’t try and pull straight up.

As others have said easy and pretty much foolproof

brodie

And wipe the inside portions of the prongs so you don’t get cork buildup.

+1

As with any ah-so (or cork screw), if the cork is particularly brittle/crumbly, impatience at the very end can lead to some of that last bit breaking off. If you aren’t confident gently pulling straight up for the last few millimeters is enough, you can pinch the sides of the prongs to help hold things together and more carefully guide it up.

The Durand needs its case, since the worm doesn’t fold and the prongs don’t have their own little sheath. There’s an elegance to the case, but it’s also a bit cumbersome. If you’re going to bring it to group settings where other people will also have Durands, I’d suggest doing something to customize the outside of the case to avoid mix-ups.

Timely post as my Durand arrived today.

Bought it after a dinner at a BYOB where the cork crumbled and I had to fish bits of cork out of the glass with my knife after every pour. I don’t drink enough older bottles for a Durand to really make financial sense opening only a couple old bottles a year, but then maybe not dealing with crumbled cork makes it priceless?

Robert

The Ah-So style of openers on Amazon are pretty inexpensive ($10). I have a German one I use for everything, except maybe crappy plastic corks.

So one doesn’t have to pay Durand prices to get most of the goodness of a two pronger. For very old crumbly corks, I grant the advantages of that variant.

LOL, I was at a restaurant where this kid comes out with the bottle of wine and they had given him a Durand. He was working so hard to get those prongs through the slot. Finally he got them like half way in, but mostly just stuck in the cork and then just pulled the worm to get the whole thing out.

I definitely have one of those, and have had decent luck with it. However, I have also had some older corks that would not come out, or that would get pushed into the bottle. I have also done the hybrid method with that and a corkscrew (described somewhere on the forum). This works MOST of the time, but it’s not entirely foolproof, and is somewhat imprecise.
So, I guess I am at the point in my life where I am willing to pay the upcharge to get the Cadillac model and just not worry about it.

Btw, I’m not sure a can describe it well, but you can get virtually all floating cork bits out with a small pour using the right technique. Basically, they’re all together on a small surface area in the neck. A quick, smooth tilt down and back up will carry it out on a wave. Maybe 1 to 1 1/2 oz.

FIFY

I used it today to remove a cork that might have been 110 years old and that completely disintegrated when I removed it. A couple of tine pieces of the cork broke off, but otherwise it was perfect.

My advice is that if you have it, use it often. Do not say to yourself, “This wine is not so old; it doesn’t need the Durand.” I forget some times but if a wine is 10+ year old, use the Durand, and sometimes I regret not using it on even younger bottles.

Lots of good advice… Or you can always follow the pictographic instructions that come with it?

Thanks. Reading the directions never occurred to me.

Well, it can be very dangerous to start with the screw part centered … old corks can quickly disappear inside…

Kaplan probably got the smart version of the Y chromosome.

Also: pinch the tines of the ah-so section as you get close to fully extracting the cork, otherwise the tines will spring apart and the sudden motion can cause bits of cork to break off into the bottle.