What Kind of Cork Screw do you Use?

Just pick up any magazine about Wine and you will find some ads and/or articles about the easiest and best cork screw to use.

Growing up, I always remembered my parents had those "Winged" cork screws. As I became more interested in wine, I switched over to the "waiter"s style of corkscrew. There have been many gadgets over the years for removing wine corks. The two that always get me, are the ones with hand pumps, so that you could 'pumped' the cork out of the wine. The other type were battery operated. They worked but just opening one bottle almost drained the rechargeable battery.

I would be very curious to understand what cork screws most of you prefer.

95+ percent of the time, the waiter's friend. Always several at home for handy use, and always one in my shoulder bag when I'm travelling (and yes, I've lost a few to Homeland Security as potentially dangerous weapons)

With problematic corks, the ah-so, which works wonders with even the most soaked or crumbling of corks...

Except for very old Port bottles where, as much for the fun and show of it, I will use Port tongs.

[Robin Garr]

What type is your favorite?

After having tried a lot of them, Ron, I come back consistently to the "waiter's friend," the simple lever-action model that resembles a pocket knife. I particularly like the two-step model, which is good for pulling longer corks without risk of breakage, but my current favorite, a brushed-aluminum Archimedes from Friuli, solves that problem in a different way, using a heavy lever with a convex profile that nudges the cork back toward vertical as you pull it out.

The picture is similar, except that mine is green.

I'm sure we've all received the next greatest thing in cork removal tools over time but the "waiter's friend" is my choice, too. There's always one handy - several rooms/floors in the house, desk at work, even the car all have one at the ready. I must say, however, I dislike the name; I think I'd call it a "corkjack" or something.

Another vote for waiter's friend. I'd say 95% of the time that's what I use.

I am considering buying port tongs though after a few disasters over the holidays this year.

we've tried many, liked a few, then we saw this at a friends' party one night. Bought one and we love it. Fast, no effort, always works. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300502025966

Isn't this wine more than food?

I mostly use Pulltap (2 stage waiter's corkscrew). I use Ah So for older corks. I covet the Durand (a combination of an ah so and a worm- gets rave reviews from those that open old bottles a lot):
http://thedurand.com/

I covet the Durand also but the price is somewhat offensive IMHO.

I have several of these, some wooden handles like this one, some all metal, some a mixture



Plus I always have this ready:


My son got this one for me last Christmas:


At one of the wine dinners I hosted, I gave a presentation on the various corkscrews and other devices to remove a cork. One thing that always seems to hold the attention
of people unfamiliar with corkscrews is the difference between a sharp edged worm and a smooth one. Talking about it is one thing, giving a live demo was so much more
fun, plus the audience really understood what I was talking about

Everyone has their little collectibles.... Just one of mine are corkscrews

I know that I need for my collection is a something I can use for sabering a old vintage port. I've watched some videos on this , but have yet been daring enough to try it myself

Ron, Hi....

I believe that sabering is done primarily with Champagne bottles. Old bottles of Port wne bottles on the other hand are not sabered but are sometimes opened with Port tongs. In using such tongs, the metal clasp at the end of the tongs is heated to red hotness, often over an open flame, clamped to the neck of the bottle, turned several time. The line around which the tongs were clamped is then cooled quickly (an ice cube does that nicely) and the the neck of the bottle then snaps off cleanly with no glass fragments.

Best
Rogov

Ron,
Rogov is correct- PLEASE don't attempt to saber a port bottle. Sounds like a good recipe for injury.
It works with Champagne only because of the pressure inside bottle. You really don't need a sabre- there's a restaurant in Soho (NYC) where the owner loves to "saber" bottles of Champagne with a spoon.
Port tongs are very cool (well, very hot ) but I've never used.

Pulltap Waiters Friend for me.

But I prefer a screwcap

PS: why is this in the Kitchen forum?

We use a Screwpull on real cork, and a waiter's friend on synthetics. If you have a worm with tephlon on it like the Screwpull, the synthetics strip it away.

Daniel and Dale....

THANKS! I am glad I posted this so I could be corrected.

I might have cut my arm or worse, ruin a nice bottle of Vintage Port

[Robin Garr]

PS: why is this in the Kitchen forum?

Good question! <moving it to the wine forum ... >

I use any kind that will remove the cork efficiently. There is no allegiance to cork screw design on my part.

I've yet to find a perfect corkscrew. Most of the time I use a waiter's friend but it is too short and has a too narrow screw to be good with long Bordeaux corks, particularly in old bottles where they have a tendency to break up. For such bottles I use a screw-pull but again the screw is too narrow and it sometimes pulls up the centre of the cork leaving the sides adhering to the neck of the bottle. My old fashioned two handled corkscrew has a much wider screw blade but is too short and sometimes leaves the bottom of the cork in the neck.

I've seen a video of François Ardouze removing a crumbly cork cleanly but I cannot remember what he did. Has anyone got the link?

[David M. Bueker]

I keep several types handy: pulltap (2 stage waiter's friend like Dale uses), Screwpull, Ah-So and some others. I have managed to utilize part of a a pocket Screwpull and an Ah-So combined as a sort of improvised Durand.

Waiters Friend. I have a cheap plastic one but it has these nifty round capsule cutters:



If a heavier duty version were available I'd buy it.

I too use a two-step waiter's friend, one with a Teflon-coated screw. I'm not sure that the Teflon makes a whit of difference but the matte black finish is cool

Mark Lipton

At home, I use a Screwpull Foil Cutter followed by a winged corkscrew. I have a Waiters Friend in the BYO bag and another one in the MG for when we are on the road. And an Ah So for old corks that are in their death throws. Also a Rabbit style corkscrew, which mainly just sits on the sideboard for show. But then at home, about 95% of the bottles that I open have screwcaps.

I also have a champagne opening device (somewhere) that grips the cork and slips into the ring of the muslette cage and breaks that as well when you leaver the cork out of the neck.

When Sue was running night school wine tasting classes my job on the first night was to demonstrate the various types of corkscrews. I can lay my hands on 10-12 distinctly different types. Some require a great deal of strength to get a cork out of the bottle. These would probably be impossible to use with a Diam cork.

I use the Screwpull Trilogy most of the time,

http://www.amazon.com/Screwpull-50065001000061-Trilogy-Table-Corkscrew/dp/B0006590AA

as well as an Ah-So for a potentially crumby cork from an older wine.

I've got a variety of cork-removing gadgets, all of which work well. But most of the time, I use a waiter's friend. Simple, hardly ever fails.
Fits in a handbag/briefcase/guitar case.

Waiters Friend. I have a cheap plastic one but it has these nifty round capsule cutters:



If a heavier duty version were available I'd buy it.

Kelly, that's called a "Boomerang" corkscrew, and I am forever indebted to Robin (Garr) for introducing it to me. There are all qualities of them all over the net. Right after 9/11, the TSA started taking away our waiter's corkscrews with the blade cutters, and this was the PERFECT solution for us flight attendant types. It has a built in foil cutter that is permissible to go through security in carryon luggage, for one thing. I presently love the following Boomerang: Boomerang X.tend (R) by FarmItaly. I buy them by the dozen when I can find them (on sale!) and give them to flight attendant friends as gifts, and this rates much higher as a flight attendant bribe than candy. <g> Right after 9/11, the airline I work for started issuing these what I call "pig-sticker" T-shaped things with just a wooden hold on and a worm. I couldn't open wine with them and told my passengers that they could have what they'd ordered if they could open the bottle.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines issues Boomerangs to their flight attendants.

I found an Ah So at a yard sale once and adored it for dry corks. I think I'll order another one!! It's also TSA-friendly. And I had a separate foil cutter that was given to me when I graduated from Purser training that I lost, and that was a bummer, but really, the Boomerang is mostly all I need. I had one or two occasions a few years back where the wine bottle necks were too wide and I needed the dedicated foil cutter. Foil cutters are good for Port with corks, too.