Bottle Openers

WINE TALK
#1

A friend gave me this recently. He only buys the best tools, has had this for many years I’m sure, but he doesn’t drink wine.
I’ve been really pleased with how it works on youthful wine bottles, but haven’t tried it on an older cork yet.
BottleOpener.jpg
Anyone else have one of these, and any comments regarding well aged corks coming out intact vs other bottle openers?

#2

It’s always nice to get a gift, but I wouldn’t use this on anything close to a fragile cork, it looks to have one of those carved shanks, rather than a proper corkscrew.

#3

This kind of opener is among the worst openers for really old corks, as it tends to “drill down” through the cork, instead of engaging it to lift up as a helix-shaped worm would do. Although I’ve never tried it, many folks swear by The Durand sold by RWC for the really fragile corks.

#4

This is actually a premium product from Germany.
The screw is high quality and penetrates the cork smoothly and effortlessly.
I think it would fully penetrate a somewhat loose cork instead of pushing it in.

The feature of this remover that is unique in my experience though is how the cork is drawn out.
Continuing to turn the handle after the screw bottoms causes the outer thread to begin turning and lift the cork gradually.
What is really different is that the cork turns in the bottle neck as it rises.
This is where I wonder if the design is actually better than other screw removers.

FWIW, I’ve had plenty of cork breakage issues with my two prong remover.

#5

I have had a few with that same double action from spinning in the same direction. The issue is the worm. The picture on the box looks like it is a solid non-helix but the actual screw looks like it might be a regular DNA strand helix. If it is the former, I would not use it for anything other than plastic synthetic corks. If it is the later and a real hollow worm, it’s fine.

#6

My response is not intended to be obstinate, but to suggest caution.

The corkscrew here:

works in the same manner, but has an actual corkscrew shank. While the carved shank-style probably is smoother to insert, because it carves a wide vertical path through the cork, and is supported only by its sharp flanges, if the cork is at all crumbly or soft or significantly stuck to the bottle, there is a greater chance that the lifting action will pull the shank right through the cork.

With younger bottles this probably matters very little, and indeed this is why most (“less committed”) wine drinkers get along fine with pretty much whatever is at hand. I would say that as long as you strongly expect the cork to be in original, almost-new condition, this will serve you well.

#7

https://thedurand.com The best for removing old corks IMHO. It can open any cork but really only needed with the tough to get out ones. Have had 100% success. Not cheap but worth it when the cork looks crappy and old :slight_smile:

#8

Love the Durand on older bottles.

#9

This type of corkscrew has pulverized many middle-aged or older corks. Was the only thing my mother had for a while so ended up using it on some of our old stuff.

The “worm” is like an augur. It rips and rends soft corks. Stay very far away from corkscrews with this type of architecture.

Another resounding vote for the Durand…

#10

And another…Noah can attest to the fact that I almost always have my Durand with me, and it gets used a lot [cheers.gif]