Wine gadgets: #1 the corkscrew

Gadgets are hot in the world of wine, too. Apparently, the contents of a bottle become more attractive with the accessories you surround it with. Now, wine is indeed largely about emotion, but ultimately it is simply about what is inside.

Wine gadgets are becoming increasingly popular. From aerators, thermometers and special glasses to very hip apps. Vivino—the successful wine app that matches you with an online wine database by scanning a wine label—recently secured a $25 million investment through Moët Hennessy. Just to indicate where wine and its toys are these days.

Crumbled cork remnants

But no wine gadget is as essential as the fundamental corkscrew. More often than not, opening a bottle ends in a liquid drama: the cork breaks, or the screw thread goes askew. Leaving you with a wine glass full of crumbled cork remnants. This problem can be avoided by choosing only bottles with screw caps (and believe me, it happens). But personally, I would still rather base my choice of a bottle of wine on its contents than on its packaging. So here is a plea for the good corkscrew.

More often than not, opening a bottle ends in a liquid drama.

Waiter’s corkscrew

How do you recognize a good one? Is it a manual one, an electric one, or one with an air pump and a snazzy design? Or perhaps simply one of those waiter’s corkscrews? You know, the kind with a lever and two waving arms. A proper corkscrew simply ensures that the cork comes smoothly out of the wine bottle without leaving cork remnants behind. Pay particular attention to the screw thread. A good one has an open spiral, one that a match can fit through. A closed spiral pushes everything downward. If you accidentally screw straight through the cork, the drilled-out cork remnants will end up in the wine.

We used to have one of those picturesque screw threads on a piece of grapevine. Lovely and vintage, but useless for opening a bottle. The irregular shapes of nature did not exactly provide the right grip to get corks subtly out of the neck. And then there are those extravagant versions in fancy boxes, where ‘the bigger, the better’ seems to be the motto.. These masculine contraptions only confuse me.

Awkward and expensive

I prefer a waiter’s corkscrew, or the classic sommelier’s knife. And this opener is not called that for nothing; almost every professional uses one. All other corkscrews are generally awkward, or simply too expensive. Do choose a reasonable quality, though—compare it to a kitchen knife. Brands such as Laguiole or Screwpull offer solid quality, but there are also plenty of excellent unbranded options. The right waiter’s corkscrew has a good blade for opening the capsule and a sharp, open spiral. It also has a—preferably two-stage—lever system that fits the bottle seamlessly, to remove the cork calmly—and thus while preserving its aromas.

Who would ever have thought that the hottest gadget was at your feet?

And did you forget to pack one for a picnic? There is another solution. The shoe! First remove the top part of the capsule so that the cork can move freely. Hit the bottom of the bottle three times with a shoe. Then place the bottle in that same shoe and hit the bottom of the shoe against a wall, a tree, or something similar. Do this carefully, otherwise you may still end up without any wine. After a few taps, you will see the cork slowly emerge from the bottle. Ideal. Who would ever have thought that the hottest gadget was at your feet?

Here’s the shoe trick in action.