About that corkscrew

FortyTwoBlades said:
I used to think that, and I much prefer corks as general rule, but caps are becoming more common now and I'm not going to let a screw cap get between me and a fantastic wine. A lot of the Spanish reds are coming with screw caps now, and they're inexpensive wines so it makes sense--but Spanish wines are a great value so don't overlook them!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, nothing beats the sound of a high quality natural cork popping out of a bottle of Chateuneuf-du-Pape. :D
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Agreed, until its corked....
 
The reason why I prefer a cork is purely for aesthetic reasons. Synthetic corks, for me, make for a nice blend between better technology and tradition. I have no qualms whatsoever with screw caps, as I'm aware of the numerous advantages. They used to only be found on cheap wines, which is why some folks have such a bias against them, but it's no longer the case.

What winery do you work at? I love a good Oregon pinot. :)
 
I can't believe that nobody else knows the answer to this... in 4 pages of responses.

The corkscrew is there because it's the only civilized way to get the first sausage out of a can of Vienna Sausages!

Use similar to this:
4188215349_9bfb3703be.jpg
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The reason why I prefer a cork is purely for aesthetic reasons. Synthetic corks, for me, make for a nice blend between better technology and tradition. I have no qualms whatsoever with screw caps, as I'm aware of the numerous advantages. They used to only be found on cheap wines, which is why some folks have such a bias against them, but it's no longer the case.

What winery do you work at? I love a good Oregon pinot. :)
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I am the Wine Director at the Calrton Winemakers Studio.
 
I have the Vic Swisstool CS, so the corkscrew is an option not attached to the actual knife. I have used the corkscrew many times to actually open wine. Even when I go to someone elses house to enjoy a bottle of Shiraz, and they have one of those "jumping jack" style corkscrews in their drawer, out comes the Swiss Tool. I find those other ones tend to destroy the cork (especially if dry) and either just tears out of the cork, or breaks it off, or at the very least, drops cork crumbs into the wine. The Vic corkscrew is very reliable, and the only corkcrews I prefer over the Vic, are the professional ones my wife got from her days as a wine taster, kind of like this one:

cs_sorrentoGLD_opn.png
 
I used the corkscrew on my Vic Spirit to open a bottle the other day. :)
 
Can you even imagine some one would bring a corked bottle of wine to a rendezvous and not have a corkscrew, we're talking a good 130 years away from a Walmart. How about a New Years party and "where did that corkscrew get to, hurry we only have 3 minutes." Or anchored out at Elliott Key. I just don't know what people are thinking some times. For some reason I'm the first person that gets asked "You wouldn't have a corkscrew on ya would ya." Ah.. yes I do.

1973 hitchhiking through western PA I was picked up by two young women in a VW bus, guess what their first question was? The rest of this story is a rumour and absolutely never happened. Anyhow it is the incident that keeps the corkscrew on any version of SAK I carry and I kind of chuckle to myself every time I use it and think of that ride in the VW back in 1973. If ya gotta hold something against Hippy Chicks it might as well be yourself :)
 
I use the corkscrew at home. It seems that I can never find that fancy cork remover, which is supposed to reside in the knife drawer. However, I can always find one of my SAK's.
 
Screw a piece of fatwood into the spiral, then you'll always have some tinder with your SAK.
 
Used it again today. Went to visit my son, and his neighbor drops in asking if he has a corkscrew. I stood up, took out the Swiss Tool, and helped the man out. I asked jokingly "so you get wine but forgot to get a corkscrew eh?". He replied "I have one but it always wrecks the cork". I laughed, and then discovered he had one of the jumping jack types, just as I decribed yesterday! :D

Just in case you don't know what I mean by Jumping Jack style, they look like this

wing_corkscrew.jpg


I detest these things with a passion!
 
I don't like the jumping jack style corkscrews, but I have a lever style that I absolutely love. Super fast and easy to open bottles - just squeeze, pull the lever down, pull it back up, and you're done. Takes seconds.

311MRwDD3nL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
So you don't need to actually twist the thing into the cork, it does it automatically? Is that correct, or do you still need to screw it in, then the squeezing is only to pop out the cork? I have never seen one of these before but it looks neat!
 
The REAL Commander said:
So you don't need to actually twist the thing into the cork, it does it automatically? Is that correct, or do you still need to screw it in, then the squeezing is only to pop out the cork? I have never seen one of these before but it looks neat!
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No twisting needed. The screw rotates automatically with the motion of the lever.

Squeeze to clamp onto the bottle, push down the lever to screw into the cork, and pull up. The screw is pulled out faster than it rotates out, so the cork is removed.

Some even allow you to remove it from the bottle, pull the lever back down, then squeeze again to clamp onto the cork. Pulling the lever back up removes the cork from the screw.

It's pretty nuts.



Has anyone seen the pressure-needle cork remover? I haven't read through this whole thread, but I figured I'd ask because it looks interesting.

You slide the thing's needle through the cork, press down, fires out CO2 into the bottle the forces the cork out.
 
The REAL Commander said:
The Vic corkscrew is very reliable, and the only corkcrews I prefer over the Vic, are the professional ones my wife got from her days as a wine taster, kind of like this one:
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That is a beautiful sommelier knife.

While I do not often purchase a full bottle when dining, my expectation is that the staff will have a tool worthy of the price they expect for their offering.
 
MattM_Gilbert said:
That is a beautiful sommelier knife.

While I do not often purchase a full bottle when dining, my expectation is that the staff will have a tool worthy of the price they expect for their offering.
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I have the same wine key and use it everyday. It works well. laguiole makes a great product.
 
@ HolyRoller, that's pretty high tech my good sir, thanks for the info! Man alive, talk about being able to show off with one of those fancy corkscrews, my friends would fall off the couch!
 
I've been looking at this one from A.G. Russell. Looks like a winner.

AGR-FO5.jpg
 
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