Corkscrews

[wellinghall]

Our corkscrew has died, and so we need a new one. What sort would you recommend?

Comments

[emperor]

jointed-arm waiter's friend; they look like this.

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

That is my favourite-ever-found-at-Heathrow corkscrew. I have had plastic-handled and metal-handled versions, I now realise: the plastic one was lost/left somewhere, and replaced by the metal one.

Now I know what I want for Christmas!!!

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

Not one from Morrisons. Neither their cheap ones nor their reasonably priced ones last.

We now have an Alessi-clone from Robert Dyas. I feel we might have been better investing in an Alessi, and would have done if there was one I liked in RD.

My favourite corkscew ever was a nice pocket one that got itself into the lining of my handbag, and discovered at Heathrow. Or rather, the machine could see it, but neither I nor the security guards could find it. I had got to the point of asking if they could give me a carrier bag, so I could abandon the handbag, when they put it through the machine for the fifth time, and thus pinpointed just where it was.

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

I have two that I particularly like: the one on my pen knife, and the sort that's like a little man whose arms go up as you screw it into the cork. I feel like a wuss when I use it, but it does work. Don't get the sort that claim to do everything for you, so you don't even have to screw anything anywhere; countertony's father had one, and half the time it just pushes the cork straight into the bottle.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

I get good results every time with one of this style:

http://www.winebase.co.uk/product.asp?
numRecordPosition=5&P_ID=134&strPage
History=cat&strKeywords=&SearchFor=
&PT_ID=82

It has to be a robust make though although ours didn't actually cost all that much.

I also used to get good results with a very simple waiter's type (not a folding one, the simplest sort) but this is not very good now I have a problematic shoulder, so the same might be true for you.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

America's Test Kitchen recently ran a test of various wine cork pullers and this style came Highly Recommended. They are easy to operate, usually get the cork out, and can be bought for a reasonable price.
The Waiter style everyone else is recommending here came in second. It is smaller, but requires more muscle to get the @#$%^! cork out. And, if you don't have much skill, tends to break the cork more often.
kproche got a nifty one that uses CO2 cartridges. You push a needle through the cork and press a button on the top. A bit of the CO2 goes into the bottle and forces the cork out. But they aren't cheap, and I don't know where you would buy one.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

We've found that they can have trouble with plastic corks. The screw gets stuck in the plastic and then unscrews from the rest of the mechanism. It has happened with more than one of them. Other than that they've been good.

The best type we've found is the waiter's friend.

Other than that the simple type on a Swiss Army Knife works remarkably well.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

You could always try one of these (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B0001NPYXO/ref=dp_image_0/279-8868004-9748865?ie=UTF8&n=11052681&s=kitchen). My stepmother gave me one and it's a good party trick if nothing else!

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

Ah, no, that's the sort I meant that pushes the cork into the bottle rather than removing it...

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

It's never done that to me, but then I have only used it half a dozen times! I would think if it pushes the cork in the bottle, the screw part must be too blunt.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

We were given one of those as a free gift and were amazed when it not only did it actually work, but did so very well. The biggest problem is that it is very bulky. Some times one has to persuade the cork to leave the screw, but at least it doesn't unscrew the screw from the rest of it like the double-arm type do with some plastic corks.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Another vote for a 'Butler's/waiter's friend' type. It takes a couple of tries but eventually you won't want to go back to any other type of corkscrew. Sainsburys do a very nice rubber-handled one with a wheel foil cutter rather than a knife.

Of course, you could just buy screwtop winebottles...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Cute icon :-)

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Yours is an even cuter icon. I like ferrets (even if mine does double duty as a Harry Potter icon. *blushes*)

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

You only had one?!?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Only *one*...?

I can't say we are a heavy drinking household, but we have loads of them! I prefer whichever one happens to be nearest.

[malaheed.livejournal.com]

I didnt realise you owned Alton Towers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7718618.stm

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

We have the two-armed screw-in-and-then-push-the-arms-down sort (as also recommended by el_staplador). Personally, I think they're great; much easier on the arms than a waiter's friend type, and we've never had one break. Also, they're very easy to make (and make strong enough) out of whatever random low-grade steel comes to hand, so they're cheap too :) I think the ones we have came from Sainsbury's at a couple of quid each.

[emperor]

I used to like these, but I dislike them more as the years go by and I encounter more of their failure modes.

[segh.livejournal.com]

I believe in the waiter's-friend type myself. They're well-named too; actual sommeliers use them. G. insists on using an actual corkscrew with a wooden handle. I don't know if he's being unnecessarily traditional or unnecessarily masculine but I suspect the former.

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Waiter's friend here.