There Are So Many Types Of Wine Opener
All sorts of people, from the connoisseur to the casual drinker, will find themselves in need of a good wine opener. With so many to choose from, it is almost hard to believe that so many disparate devices all perform the same function. In their function, they are similar, but each design uses slightly different mechanics to remove a cork.
Perhaps you have seen a waiter’s corkscrew. It folds up like a pocket knife and has a corkscrew that you manually guide into the cork. It also has a little lever arm, and when the screw is in deep enough you rest this arm against the side of the bottle. Then, you can use this leverage to lift the body of the corkscrew away from the bottle, pulling the cork with it.
In the hands of a skilled user, a quality waiter’s corkscrew works quite well. It also has the advantage of being quite easy to carry around. Quality models also have a small knife with which to cut the foil off the top of a bottle.
Manually working a screw straight down the center of a cork is not easy. And, as mentioned above, the lever action can take a few tries to master. For home use, many people prefer the winged corkscrew design.
The two opposing levers that give this design it’s name are quite distinctive. This type of opener is seen in many kitchens. The advantage of this design is the way the screw itself is mounted dead center so that as long as the opener is atop the bottle the screw will maintain the proper angle. The dual levers also make a straight, steady pull easier.
If that is still not reliable enough, perhaps you are interested in a table-mounted device. For high volume restaurants or people who simply value ease of use, these workhorse devices might be a good choice. These openers remain stationary while the bottle comes to them. The user simply places the bottle in the proper spot and the device will both insert the screw and pull the cork. Some of them are motorized so all you need to do is press a button.
CO2 openers don’t use a screw at all. Instead, they use pressurized gas to push the cork out of the bottle. Getting the force of the gas from a pressurized canister, the user pushes the needle of the device into the cork until the tip protrudes into the air gap below the cork. Then, a simple push of a button sends the cork pushing out.
Of course on the other end of the spectrum, there are extremely simple screw-pulls. Some travel models are no larger than a marker when they are folded up. These minimalist devices represent a major ease-of-use trade off, since they provide only a screw with a handle. However, that is preferable to being caught with no way to open your bottle.
Whatever your needs in a wine opener are, be sure to choose at least one. Nobody wants to be stuck with a sealed bottle. Coming prepared with the right equipment will spare you from this embarrassment.
Nick Parker owns a best wine opener blog. There are many reviews in his blog including those for Screwpull wine openers, Metrokane wine openers, and Oster wine openers.
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