+3 Would I buy one? Probably not as I don’t see the incremental value. Would I like to get one as a gift instead of all the ridiculous things people give me when they find out I like wine? ABSOLUTELY
I’d buy one, I like cool toys…
That’s what she said.
Missing in all the comments so far - from the picture, I wouldn’t touch the Code 38. The screw part is heavy (thick), which strongly suggests it will break old corks. And be too tight on others. The heavy screw is a feature I associate with cheap corkscrews. So it may be beautiful to some, but I have serious doubts about its functionality.
Ah, yes… but of course you are in a different league.
While the question of optimal screw thickness hasn’t been discussed explicitly here, and isn’t something I know anything about, having serious doubts about the functionality is an irrational, unfounded concern given the praise found in reports from users of the Code 38, accomplished wine pros like Raj Parr among them, which universally report the tool to perform excellently. This is my finding as well, detailed in the OP. While there is–obviously–a range of screw thicknesses that are appropriate, the Code 38 falls well within that range. The photo has fooled you, apparently!
Similarly, I don’t know how screw thickness relates to breaking old corks, but since old corks are usually saturated and friable, I’d think exactly the opposite of your concern is true, namely that a thicker screw would help displace more material to increase tension between the spirals and against the bottle neck, helping to keep the cork intact. Like you, I’m just speculating here, though, so the mechanics may be different, and I’d be interested to know more about the matter. In any case, I keep Ah Sos around for old corks, and would love to add a Durand to the stable. If only I had more old bottles to use one on!
To address your concern about the thickness being a feature of cheap corkscrews, I’ll just point out that the Code 38 site notes the screw is cold-forged and polished, which is a decidedly high-quality and expensive process. If you compare the Code38 screw to the “peoples’ choice” Pulltap screw, you’ll find the surface of the Pulltap screw, even under the disguising layer of shiny plating, that the pits and irregularities reveal a cast metal construction, which is much less strong than the Code 38’s premium, cold-forged unit. Anyone who has used a Pulltap frequently enough, as I have, will know the propensity of the cheap screw to bend. I have seen cheap, cast metal screws snap right off in the cork, too.
The Code 38 screw is as good a screw as is made, I think, and since it’s a French-made unit, I suspect it’s the same that’s used on the best of the Laguiole producers’ models, such as the $300 Laguiole in Aubrac pictured below. Perhaps, I don’t know if it’s the same screw or isn’t, but I hope it would be of the same top-grade as the Code 38’s!
Actually, Chaad - the thickness of the worm is a very legit concern. What you never see in older, handmade, high quality corkscrews are thick, uniform worms. Invariably, the best corkscrews have a worm that starts out thin and becomes thicker as you move back from the tip. That allows them to more easily penetrate older, fragile corks, esp corks that might slip. It’s a very good point.
So what qualifies anyone to have used a Pulltap “frequently enough”? I only ask because you’ve already stated in the other thread that none of us is as qualified to judge these things as you are… do we need to open 1000 bottles with it? 2000?
I’ve opened over 1800 bottles and counting with my current Pulltap, which I’ve had for nearly 5 years now. No bends in the “cheap screw” at all. Performs just as well as it did on day one.
Chaad in the interest of transparency, did you pay for this corkscrew? I know that Code 38 did a big push when they were getting off the ground to give away some of these wine keys to top sommeliers and people in the biz to generate some buzz.
More recently (and unrelated), I’ve seen some Facebook advertising.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I guess I don’t understand what you’re saying. Are you talking about the outside diameter of the worm, as on the Le Thier Sommelier I mentioned earlier? If so, go back and read that post; I said it may well be a better screw design, but I just don’t know. Or are you talking about something else? I’m confused because you talk about older, handmade, high quality corkscrews, as if the screw design isn’t made anymore.
Anyway, the Code 38 worm seems to perform just fine, and the construction type gives me confidence it won’t bend or snap. Everyone else who has used it, apparently, found the performance outstanding as well, so it escapes me how anyone can legitimately have “doubts about it’s functionality,” especially from just looking at a picture. None of which is to say the C38 screw is the best–I’ll say it again: I don’t know–but the total package is the best performing, highest quality wine key I’ve used.
If you can shed a little more light on the screw design your talking about, and which wine keys have it, I’d appreciate it. Thanks.
Bump.
Plus one. It does sound an awful lot like pimpin’.
No, I have not paid for this corkscrew yet. At the time of this writing, it belongs to the producer, who sent it to me, at my request, for review, with the understanding was that I would evaluate it and send it back at my own cost. I was deciding–now decided, based on it’s performance–to purchase several both for myself, some of the sales team, and to offer a few to key restaurant and retail clients (mostly owners, for personal use). So no, I do not sell these to the public, and if you’re not a wholesale wine buyer in Michigan, you definitely will not be getting one from me.
That said, at this time, I do not have any business relationship with Jeff, although I hope to have one soon. I only learned about Jeff and Code 38 about a month ago when someone posted about it here, but I was so struck by the device that I contact Jeff to learn more about it. So this review has grown out of that process, it was not solicited by Jeff, nor am I obligated to him. Had the device sucked, I would have written it up as such, and the device would go back to him with a polite, “thanks but no thanks” attached, and that would have been the end of that. But it does not suck, and I intend to buy it, not send it back!
So take that for what you will, but as you can read in the other thread, I was impressed with this device before I’d ever sent an email to Jeff or even held a Code 38. So to the extent that it seems I’m praising or shilling the Code 38 out of self-interest, all I can say is that the review is my sincere impression, I’ve been honest about explaining why I think this is a great tool, and my clients don’t read these forums in any case. I also have a long history of not shilling the wines I import or distribute here, or on any of the other boards I’ve participated in over the years.
It’s the same line as the last thread–which everyone is overjoyed to point out–so was it pimpin’ before I had ever heard of the guy or seen one of the corkscrews?
I don’t have anything to gain from talking about this corkscrew here.
chaad,
I am on your side about your passion for this, but it would have been really useful and proactive to have prefaced your post with exactly that - you were motivated to spec the device based on the info and they provided you with one. Being proactive about these things is key.
Just an aside - the snarkery about this is just stupid. All luxury item markets and connoisseurship is driven by exponentially increasing amounts of money paid for ever incrementally deceasing improvements in qualities. Just because it is laid bare in something you don’t care about does not mean it isn’t true for something you do care about.
A.
Just in case you missed it the first time, a bunch of people got their panties in a bunch just because I thought it was a cool device:
Chaad, thanks for the disclosure.
I am a little surprised by the level of vitriol in the thread in general. It’s just a corkscrew. Yeah it’s expensive. Yeah cheap ones do the job too, some better and some worse than others. Nonetheless, there is nothing wrong with a well crafted tool.
BTW, you really should get your hands on a Durand. (And let me point out that Mark Taylor sent me one for free, unsolicited.) It is quite a cool device.
I hear you, and thanks. The review was just a continuation of the previous thread from a month ago, when I knew nothing about the Code 38. Here was my chance to put theory to test and actually use and examine the device. As a consequence of that, I’ve decided I’d like to buy some, but I don’t have or sell Code 38s now, so I just didn’t think of this review as something apart, that needed any other explanation. My mistake, apparently! Thanks again.
Thanks for the understanding, Eric.
And yes, I’m planning to buy a Durand as a gift for a local somm who gives my tasting group a place to meet, and hooks us up with some awesome, aged wines (e.g. the aforementioned '80 La La’s) at killer prices. I’m sure he’ll let me give it a whirl; I don’t have enough old wines in the cellar to make real use of one…perhaps down the road, but between Apple shit (got iPad2 today!) and fancy wine keys, not so much left for cellar investment!