I don’t think anyone could dispute that the price is ridiculous, but I look at it this way: it is very robustly built, will last a lifetime (or until I lose it), it serves a very valuable purpose and gets lots of use. A great many things I spend that kind of money on (including the bottles it opens and the meals at which I use it) cost more and provide less. This is a rationalization to be sure, but a rational rationalization.
My thoughts as well.
Exactly!
Yes - use one or the other. If the Ah So can push the cork down, the cork should be loose enough for a regular cork screw. Plus, if you’re pushing the cork down into the bottle with the Ah So you’re using it wrong. Patience and light pressure wiggling it down works just fine.
I open lots of old Piemonte wines, I would love to try an AhSo first, it is so easy to use, but I have found that sometimes the cork is so loose it absolutely must be attacked with a screw first, and one may not know until it is too late.
Besides being very cheap, my setup has the advantages that the corkscrew is easy to control very precisely, and also (very helpful!) I insert it right one the margin between the cork and the bottle lip. This allows the “screwing” pressure to be at an angle to the cork, rather than downwards, and keeps it out of the way of the subsequent AhSo.
With very old bottles you’d be wrong on both accounts…
The Ah So will push the cork in and the cork is too weak to use a regular cork screw…
The Durand is a great idea…although what someone just posted above is what some others do…just get their own corkscrew, bring it in at an angle…and then use the Ah So…the corkscrew really is just to hold the cork steady so the Ah so won’t push it in…
For bottles that aren’t very old, there is a good chance you can use either an Ah So or a Corkscrew…but when the cork is old and weak, maybe you succeed, maybe you don’t…the Durand takes that out of the equation…
I DO think they need to make it longer though…Longer Ah So, Longer Corkscrew…
I opened a 1970 Rioja last night and it was one of the few bottles the Durand did not open flawlessly. The cork had disintegrated to such a degree that it crumbled around the screw, and with the ah-so piece only extracted half the cork. A little fussing got the rest of it out and the strainer took care of the bits that fell in the bottle. Not much any of these tools would have accomplished with this one.
The wine was DOA, so a total loss all around.
Anything pre 2000 I generally just go for the Durand. I know people have commented that it’s expensive but I have to say it’s the single most valuable tool I have for wine. This thread tempted me to open something old last night so used my Durand on a 64 giacomo Conterno Barolo. Yum!
I had to use one on an 05 Prum BB spatlese last week. Rather I had to have someone use it. I find that my hand isn’t quite big enough for it. But I am glad i have one.