Corkscrew

[guajolote]

I should have said upfront that I have a rabbit and I love it. It doesn't work so well with synthetic corks, and also if you put a bottle of white wine in the freezer to chill it (I know, dumb, but I'm lazy) it has problems with half-frozen corks. I've figured it has saved me (365 days * 1 bottle/day *8 sec) 49 minutes of time in the last year.

Also, whenever we have a party all the men are attracted to the rabbit, want to hold, try it out etc. The women look at us like were a bunch of asses .

[ctgm]

I was asked to test a cheap copy of the Screwpull by s friend who was thinking of putting it in a mail order catalogue. We managed to snap the handle in two on the first bottle (which admittedly had quite a stiff cork but nothing over the top) so caveat emptore

I love the sound a cork makes when you pull it out so love those plain T shaped ones. I also use a fish (as my wife gave it to me as a present and it would be rude not to use it!!) which works well without too much trouble.

[g.johnson]

I'm having trouble imagining how one can open a bottle of wine with a fish. Unless it's a narwhal and that's not a fish.

[Beachfan]

one I use is like a hypodermic needle with a gas canister on it.  It's effortless and cheap. 

It works 99% of the time.  It's also useful on some of the 1% just because it shows things aren't always airtight.

I still have stains on my kitchen ceiling from one of these I got as a sample.

Did you try it again? I find a light touch helps.

[Wilfrid]

Is it a mammal?

[eat2much]

The narwhal is indeed a mammal, and while I do happen to have a narwhal tusk, at over five feet in length it makes for a rather unwieldy utensil.

[Stone]

Good sweet Jesus. $175 for a corkscrew? Laguiole

I've never had a problem with the much derided:

And if you pull the auger in and out the arms waive about like a person screaming for help, which is kind of fun.

(Sorry to digress, but on the Laguiole site, under the "Very Exceptional Knives" section, they write: "The following folding knives we sell on this page are very exceptional because they are made with the best attention of our craftsmen." I guess that means that the other knives are made by half-drunk, distracted novices who are rushing to hurry home to the wife and kids?)

Edited March 14, 2003 by Stone (log)

[g.johnson]

You really don't mean one of them, I hope. They're OK with a helical bit, but the screw bit really fucks corks up.

[Stone]

Well, my waiter's screw fell apart (perhaps I should have paid $175), and this is in the drawer. I also have a rabbit, but I've never had any problem with this one.

[CathyL]

It's not just a corkscrew, it's a Laguiole.

If you're interested in a more modest display of conspicuous consumption, click.

[Stone]

Ooh. Those will really look like a screaming person. Perhaps a bit too much.

[Blue Heron]

I have the rabbit, but for some reason I find it hard to expel the cork from it when I'm finished opening a bottle. However I love my pocket model screwpull. I've had it a few years and it's still going strong, and works like a charm for me. My least favorite are the 2 prong thingies you slide in and twist & pull. At a birthday party I was hosting, I splashed red wine all over myself trying to open a bottle with it, which was so embarassing.

[Suzanne F]

My least favorite are the 2 prong thingies you slide in and twist & pull.  At a birthday party I was hosting, I splashed red wine all over myself trying to open a bottle with it, which was so embarassing. 

Equally useless -- and messy -- is the T-shaped thing with a little ledge on the bottom, meant to fish out the cork that's floating in the wine in the bottle because you either broke it or didn't have any way to pull the cork out in the first place. They never quite hold the floating cork straight up enough, and even when they do, they're too thick to just pull out of the neck of the bottle without the danger of exploding it.

[awbrig]

The wine I buy doesnt need a corkscrew, thank God!

You guys are buying the wrong kind - you can get wine where the tops screw off and not bother with that cumbersome cork!

[Stone]

Yeah, I hear that Trotter is allowing only platic corks because he read that over-harvesting is devastating the cork trees.

[Ron Johnson]

You guys are buying the wrong kind - you can get wine where the tops screw off and not bother with that cumbersome cork!

yes, Bonny Doon and several New Zealand wineries are going to screw tops. I believe we have a thread on that somewhere.

[Robin Meredith]

Received a rabbit "knock-off" from the Sharper Image for Christmas. The foil cutter was useless from day one, and the cork puller itself broke after about a dozen uses. The package also included a genuinely silly battery-operated aeration device - as far as I can tell it uses a telescoping arm that extends down into the bottle and sloshes things around a bit when you press a button (I say "as far as I can tell" 'cause I can't quite bring myself to actually go through this exercise).

Definitely scratch the Sharper Image off of the list.

[klinger75]

lagioule always or for the adventurous, try using an ossau(sp). Great once you get the hang of it!

[Ron Johnson]

I think they spell it "Ah So". I have never had much luck with those.

[g.johnson]

Equally useless -- and messy -- is the T-shaped thing with a little ledge on the bottom, meant to fish out the cork that's floating in the wine in the bottle because you either broke it or didn't have any way to pull the cork out in the first place.

A loop of string works pretty well for this.

[Basildog]

I open about 10-12 bottles of wine a night and use a waiters friend,BUT also a litttle foil cutter which saves a lot of time, and makes a nice neat job.

[klinger75]

I think they spell it "Ah So".  I have never had much luck with those. 

ron, you are correct. I find that these work with older, more fragile corks.

[tommy]

I open about 10-12 bottles of wine a night and use a waiters friend,BUT also a litttle foil cutter which saves a lot of time, and makes a nice neat job.

am i the only one who uses the tip of the screw to rip the capsule off from the bottom?

[Basildog]

Tommy, do you take all the top plastic off?

[Schielke]

I believe that the show "Sex in the City" had an episode about "The Rabbit"... or maybe that is something else entirely.

Ben