Cork Woes

Epicuro Salice Salentino's corks are almost impossible to remove easily. For the past four months I have battled with them. I broke my electric rabbit which we have had for a long time and never had any problems. So while waiting for the new one to come in, we are using a manual. I cannot open the bottles and Gene has a terrible time, usually the corks break in the middle, or disintegrate in the removal process. I called Trader Joe's today and they offered to replace all the wines we had trouble with, plus the Rabbit. I cannot let them do that. First off, I don't know how many bottles of Epicuro we have had during the past 4 months or so, no do I know that the Rabbit was just not on it's last life.
TJ's wine guy is calling their distributor about it however. Any thoughts about why this happens?

Karen -

I'm not sure why this happens, but I do have a recommendation for a corkscrew that will handle pretty much any cork with relative ease. I say this after having been through high quality "wing" screws, two broken versions of rabbits, a host of waiter's friends, and several other types. The Screw Pull that I bought years ago has never found a bottle with a firm cork that it couldn't open. (The super-crumbly ones need an ah-so.)

There's a picture of one here.

FWIW - all Italian wine bottles have narrower necks than the bottles used in other countries. A dime will fit into the bottle from any other country, but not Italian. It's possible that they may have used corks not designed for Italian bottles, or used old, dried out corks or they were not stored/shipped in a manner to keep the corks wet.

[David M. Bueker]

Another mega-endorsement for the Screwpull. It works on everything!

Thanks, I will be looking for the Screwpull. Interesting about the Italian wines......I did notice that skinny neck.

[Jenise]

FWIW - all Italian wine bottles have narrower necks than the bottles used in other countries. A dime will fit into the bottle from any other country, but not Italian. It's possible that they may have used corks not designed for Italian bottles, or used old, dried out corks or they were not stored/shipped in a manner to keep the corks wet.

Hmmm...never noticed that. I have a dime and, coincidentally, 12 open bottles of Italian wine downstairs. I'll test!

We use the Screwpull on all corks, and I mean corks. Synthetics peel the tephlon off of the worm, so we use a heafty waiters pal on those.

[Jenise]

Karen, I'd let them replace the Rabbit.

The only time I've ever had a Screwpull fail on me is with crumbly corks in old bottles of vintage Port. But Port tongs exist to solve that problem.

-Paul W.

I have a dime and, coincidentally, 12 open bottles of Italian wine downstairs. I'll test!

Only on a wine-geek board.....

FWIW - all Italian wine bottles have narrower necks than the bottles used in other countries. A dime will fit into the bottle from any other country, but not Italian. It's possible that they may have used corks not designed for Italian bottles, or used old, dried out corks or they were not stored/shipped in a manner to keep the corks wet.

Hmmm...never noticed that. I have a dime and, coincidentally, 12 open bottles of Italian wine downstairs. I'll test!

I've spent part of this morning sorting out bottles for cleaning and just discovered that South African wine bottles also have the same narrow neck as Italians.

[Jenise]

I have a dime and, coincidentally, 12 open bottles of Italian wine downstairs. I'll test!

Only on a wine-geek board.....

You made me laugh. But just so that no one misunderstands, I was previewing wines for a wine tasting this weekend. We don't normally have multiple open bottles around.