Handy If You Have To Open A Bottle Of Wine? Top 50 Best Answers

This story is part of Try This, CNET’s collection of simple tips to improve your life fast.

When you’re in a hurry and stop for a six-pack of beers, don’t always check to see if you’ve picked up twist-off or pop-off tops. If you accidentally reach for the latter and don’t have a bottle opener nearby, don’t worry – just look around for something to pry off the cap. We’ve got several creative and slightly unusual ways you can use to open your drink, and you probably have at least one of the items you need handy.

So instead of banging the cap off with a rock and hoping for the best, use strength and leverage to your advantage and try one of these safer methods of popping that stubborn cap off if you don’t have a dedicated bottle opener handy. For more tips around the house, check out how to clean your oven without harsh chemicals and how to safely pit an avocado without pricking yourself.

Smartphone and tablet chargers can open a bottle

Smartphone and tablet chargers were used to open bottles. Position one of the two prongs from the dowel end under the cap and pry up. This method requires more work than others, but who doesn’t have a charger with them?

As this could damage the charger, we do not recommend using your favorite charger.

MacBook or iPad chargers can open a bottle

A MacBook or iPad charger can also be used much like a real bottle opener. The circular crown that holds the two-prong adapter or extension cord is shaped to be used to remove a cap. Just be careful as plastic is known to crack and it must be cheaper to just buy a bottle opener than replacing a charger. It’s probably a better idea to explore other options before resorting to this one.

A countertop or table can be a great bottle opener

Use any countertop or table to take the cap off, just not your beautiful granite or marble countertop or wooden table or anything else you don’t want to damage. Choose one with a sharp edge rather than a rounded edge so you can position the lid just right. Place the lip of the cap on a sharp corner of the counter and hit the top of the cap while gently pulling the bottle down. It’s quick and easy and gets the job done without using any tools.

If you’re worried about scratching your countertop or table, try putting a thin kitchen towel between them and the bottle cap. Or find a surface you wouldn’t have worried about.

All metal can burst at the top

Use whatever metal you have on hand. When outside, use a metal railing or metal bumper (if you have one) to take the cap off with one edge. If you’re indoors, use a metal handle on your dresser or cabinets. You can take the lid off the same way you would a countertop – by resting the lip on the edge and hitting the lid while pulling the bottle down.

Sunglasses can open a bottle

You always have your sunglasses with you, right? Get a pair that doubles as bottle openers. William Painter makes great bottle opener sunglasses, or you can opt for one that lets you open the cap.

sandals in case of emergency

This is where you have to think ahead: there are some cool sandals out there that have a built-in bottle opener. Reef makes sandals that come with a bottle opener on the bottom of the shoe. All you have to do is take off your flip-flop, uncap the bottle and put your shoe back on. Just make sure to clean the bottle opener every now and then, as it can get clogged with sand or dirt.

reef

A house key can pry off a cap

A house key will certainly work. It’s usually thin enough to slip under the rim of a bottle cap, but it works best if you leave it on your keychain since the other items attached to your keys will give you more grip. Grasp the neck of the bottle and position the knurled side of the wrench under the cap on the side. Move the key back and forth until you pry off the cap. You have to work on it for a minute. In case something goes wrong, don’t use a key you can’t replace.

A pair of scissors can squeeze off the cap

Steel scissors with handles can provide grip and leverage. But they’re also sharpened, so be careful not to cut or cut your finger when prying the cap off the bottle. There are two ways to do this – with the scissors open and with the scissors closed. The closed and safer option is to put the scissors under the cap and pry up. The open option (which is unsafe and we don’t recommend it) is to wrap the scissors around the bottom of the cap and wiggle upwards until the top detaches.

Play Now: Check Out This: The Best Gadget for the Richest Wino You Know

A lighter can help

Do you have a lighter? By grasping the neck of the bottle with your non-dominant hand and positioning the base of the lighter above your index finger knuckle and under the rim of the cap, you can use leverage to remove the bottle cap. With a little practice, you can fly the cap with just a lighter.

A fork can pry off a cap

A fork works pretty well too. It’s usually easier to wedge the prongs in the cap grooves, and you can pry the cap off with less force using a single prong on the fork. Don’t use your best cutlery.

A spoon can flip the lid

If you’re at someone’s house and they can’t find a bottle opener, chances are there’s at least one spoon nearby to use to your thirsty advantage. It may take some practice to get the right grip. Try to grab the neck of the bottle as close to the cap as possible with your non-dominant hand. Position the spoon under the lip of the cap and, using the base of your thumb as a base, pry off the cap. Again, don’t use your best cutlery here.

A butter knife can be a bottle opener

The extreme tip of a butter knife can be used to bend just a small portion of the cap away from the bottle. Then position the tip of the knife under the lip so that it lies between the cap and the rim of the glass. With a careful and quick motion, tap the countertop with the handle of the knife to open the cap. And again, don’t use your best cutlery.

A slotted or slotted screwdriver can open a bottle

A flathead screwdriver works just as well with the same general instructions: position the screwdriver head under the lip of the cap and use leverage to gently loosen it by working around the cap. You can also tap a countertop with the screwdriver handle to open the lid.

Derek Poore/CNET

Claw hammer is another word for bottle opener

A claw hammer can also be used. Flip the hammer over and position the claw end (which is now facing up) under the lip. Now carefully pull off the cap with the edge of the claws.

A ring can open a bottle

This is a little iffy because a lot could go wrong to damage you or your ring, but if you’re confident it’s an option said to work. While wearing a wide band ring, place the edge under the bottle cap. Hold the cap firmly with your hand and tilt the bottle in the opposite direction until the cap pops off. Again, please be careful and do not use a ring that is important to you.

For more tips, see how to make a fire with snacks and how to wash a car without water.

Hi! i am dr Vinifera, but you can call me Vinny. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the intricacies of etiquette to the science of winemaking. And don’t worry, I’m no wine snob – you can also ask me those “stupid questions” that you’re too embarrassed to ask your wine geek friends! I hope you find my answers educational, empowering, and even amusing. And don’t forget to check my most frequently asked questions and my complete archive for all my Q&A classics.

Dear Doctor. Vinnie,

I couldn’t find a corkscrew, so I pushed the cork into a wine bottle. After drinking a couple of glasses, I covered the bottle and put it in the fridge. Is it still drinkable after the cork has been in the wine overnight?

– Catherine, Paramount, California.

Dear Catherine,

We’ve all been through this! Sometimes you have to make do with what you have (or don’t have), and popping the cork in the bottle is always an option. Your wine is fine – a floating cork will not damage or spoil it.

Occasionally I have a cork in the bottle when an older cork has dried out a bit and shriveled and hardened and the corkscrew ends up pushing it in instead of piercing it.

Just be careful when you put a cork in the bottle, as the pressure in the bottle increases as you push the cork in, which can sometimes cause wine to spurt out. If the floating cork blocks the way out of the wine, try using a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon to push it aside.

If there are small bits of cork floating around in your wine, they can be filtered out with a coffee filter or cheesecloth.

-DR. Vinny

Relax, walk on the beach, get out into nature, short vacation. An impromptu dinner, a picnic with friends… You brought the perfect wine but no corkscrew!

Don’t worry, here are 5 fail-safe tricks to opening your wine and not missing out just because you don’t have the right tool.

5 ways to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew

1.- Push the cork down

This is the simplest solution. Instead of uncorking the bottle, this method uses a solid object that you have in your hand to push the cork into the bottle where it stays. This leaves the top of the bottle free for the wine to pour out.

2.- With a key

The idea is to push the key into the cork at an angle as far as you can, so that it acts as a lever that you can turn until the cork comes out of the bottle. Be sure to use a strong wrench so it won’t bend or break, and protect your hands so you don’t hurt yourself. This trick works best when the cork is synthetic; If the cork is natural, you will have to turn the key little by little so as not to break it.

3.- With a lighter

With any luck, someone nearby will be carrying a lighter. The very important first step here is removing the metal cap covering the cork. Then use the lighter to heat the neck of the bottle (the space without liquid but with air). As the air warms up, the cork magically rises out of the bottle. Of course, be very careful not to burn yourself on the hot glass.

4.- With a screw

You may not always have a screw handy, but if you do, this is another tool you can use to uncork a bottle without a corkscrew. Insert the screw into the center of the cork like a corkscrew. Don’t screw it all the way in, leaving a little space to use a fork as leverage to pull the cork out. As simple as that! Now you can enjoy your glass of wine.

5.- With a shoe

Yes, a shoe! But not just any shoe. It must be heelless and have a sole, preferably a rubber sole. Insert the bottom of the bottle into the heel and, holding both objects, the bottle and the shoe, smack the heel of the shoe against a surface with some force. This constant tapping causes the cork to move upwards. It’s important to do this carefully because if you get it wrong you could cost a bottle of wine or even cause injury. A bit strange method, but it definitely works. It has proven itself.

Hopefully these recommendations will be helpful in an emergency. Of course, if you’re a true wine lover, it’s always best to have a corkscrew with you. And for weeps do not be afraid; our catalog has recommendations for all occasions, styles and tastes. All you have to do is open the bottle.

Image by Marcelo Leal «Wine 5».

Original on Unsplash, @marceloleal80

Wine goes down so well, sometimes you don’t even realize when you’ve had too much! It can be intoxicating in both good and bad ways, but these days it’s hard to resist. Now the next time you drink wine, ask yourself how much wine does it take to get drunk?

Your wine and its alcohol content

As many of us know, wine develops alcohol during the fermentation phase. It’s an intricate process that affects not only the alcohol content (ABV), but also the actual taste and aroma of the wine. During fermentation, yeast converts the sugars in grapes into alcohol. The more sugar used, the more alcohol there will be.

Compared to other popular alcoholic beverages, wine has relatively low ABV%. Beer is 4 – 7% vol. at the lower end of the scale and wine with 12 – 15% vol. Spirits like whiskey, gin, and vodka have a much higher alcohol content.

The ABV is usually clearly labeled, but be aware that the actual ABV you drink may be higher with wine. New studies have found that the alcohol content in wine is about 0.42% higher than that in the bottle, as grapes tend to be sweeter due to growing trends and warmer climates.

While a glass of wine won’t blow your mind, it’s still very easy to reach legally drunk levels, especially if you’re not careful.

Drunk on a few glasses of wine

Before you know how much wine to drink, you first need to know how the experts measured things.

Wine is based on a 5 fluid ounce serving size, which is about half a wine glass. A standard bottle holds 750ml of wine, which is approximately 25 oz. With a single bottle you can make about 4-6 glasses of wine. If you’re out with friends or drinking alone, the alcohol content means you don’t have to drink a lot of wine to get drunk.

It’s common sense that downing an entire bottle of wine will make you more or less drunk, but it doesn’t take that much wine to reach legally intoxicated levels. A few glasses are enough to achieve a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08.

The standard is that men need three glasses of an average ABV wine to get drunk within an hour, while women only need two. After you hit that limit, chances are you’ll be legally drunk. Until then, it’s safer and much better if you don’t drive.

Of course, many things affect drunkenness! Have you ever been out with two friends who drank the same amount but one lost control much quicker than the other, even when going at the exact same pace? Here’s why that might have happened.

What affects your high

1. Your biological sex and body type

It is a classic example of nature taking precedence over care. Females tend to be smaller than males and have more fat. Fat is important because alcohol doesn’t mix well with it. So as the body metabolizes the alcohol, higher fat levels decrease the water-soluble spaces it can get to.

However, muscle mass can help as muscles are rich in water. The alcohol can then be diluted with the water content of your muscles. The same is true at altitude, with more room for the alcohol to dilute.

Basically, this means that both sex and physique are important factors in getting drunk – or avoiding it!

2. Your ethnicity

Have you ever wondered why some of your Asian friends blush when they drink? Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is to blame! This is a gene that triggers the Asian flush and increases the heart rate when drinking alcohol, although it wasn’t much at first.

It has been shown that people of Asian and Native American ethnicities tend to metabolize alcohol more slowly, which means the alcohol stays in their bodies longer and basically lowers their tolerance.

Much is passed down from our ancestors that pertains to our daily lives, more than just drinking.

3. Your empty stomach

While the last two factors are things that you have almost no say in, you definitely have control over this.

Your food intake is a big factor when it comes to getting drunk. Drinking on an empty stomach decreases the water content in the body. This leads to a higher concentration of alcohol for your body to process. Not eating or drinking is a surefire way to get drunk faster.

On the other hand, nutritious fats and proteins might improve your alcohol tolerance as they help delay alcohol absorption and protect your body from some of the harmful effects of alcohol.

4. Your health

Your health also has a big impact on your tolerance. Because alcohol is essentially a poison to our bodies, your body cannot process alcohol quickly when it’s busy fighting a cold.

Even lack of sleep can affect your tolerance. Sleep deprivation itself already affects your impairment, what else when you add alcohol to the mix?

Also, medications are dangerous if you drink. Never drink alcohol while taking your medication, or at least know how your medication would react to what you’re drinking by consulting your doctor.

5. Your drinking experience

Having started with nature and biology, education and experience will finish this section. Drinking alcohol often increases your tolerance, regardless of genes.

It’s like learning to ride a bike. It’s difficult at first, but it gets easier with more exposure. Your body gets used to alcohol and processes it faster.

However, there is a very obvious danger of alcohol abuse. Intense alcohol tolerance may come at the expense of alcoholism and health risks. While wine has been shown to have many health benefits, this is only true when consumed in moderation.

How to drink more without getting drunk

1. Remember to eat and drink

Make sure you eat high-protein and high-fat foods to increase your tolerance. It will line your stomach and absorb much of the alcohol you will be consuming. In the same vein, drinking lots of water helps dilute the alcohol in the wine. Hydrating before drinking wine and sipping water before your next glass of wine will help you stay sober longer.

2. Try to pace yourself

Instead of quickly emptying your glass, try sipping it instead. If you don’t want to sip, you can limit yourself to just one glass. You can also drink a glass an hour and instead make sure to drink water before your next serving of wine. However, we cannot promise that this will not get you legally drunk, but that it is a way of helping you stay sober longer.

3. Get some fresh air

Surprisingly, getting out in the fresh air actually helps! When we drink alcohol, our body heats up and we start sweating out the fluids in our body. As a result, every sip of wine is more concentrated in our stomach.

Also, a room full of people will warm up, especially if everyone is drinking. That means you’ll be sweating from both the alcohol and the people you’re with.

A simple solution is to go outside and cool off. The fresh air really helps you sober up by lowering your body temperature. It’s not just the mind – it’s science!

4. Always drink sensibly

Another tip is to drink sensibly by consciously sticking to lower-alcohol wines.

Choosing a wine with a lower alcohol content is an easy way to help you stay sober longer. When the buzz hits, just go get some water. Wine taste doesn’t depend on how much alcohol is present, which means you can still sip an amazing wine without risking getting drunk.

in summary

There are many reasons you might get drunk on wine, and while tolerance varies from person to person, it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s important to drink responsibly, especially when you’re driving home.

Men only need to drink three glasses to get legally intoxicated, while women only need two. Even if you have a breathalyzer with you and leave home knowing you’re under 0.08 BAK, you could still exceed that limit while on the go.

·

Serving wine in restaurants is incredibly important to the overall “wine experience” you offer your customers – and this applies to both casual and fine dining.

Knowing how to best serve wine can range from factors that maximize the quality of the grape variety itself to how it is presented to the consumer.

temperature

Serving wine at the right temperature brings out the wine’s best qualities. The reason white wines are best served chilled is that they are very low in tannin and higher in acidity than red wines. Chilling white wines brings out the fruity taste, makes the acidity more pronounced and the wines more pleasant and refreshing. The ideal serving temperatures for different styles of wine are;

Sparkling wine & champagne 6°C – 8°C

White wine 8°C – 12°C

Rosé 9°C – 12°C

Red wine 16°C – 18°C

Timed coordination

Wine should be brought to the table as soon as possible. This is especially important when serving red wines so they can breathe. If a decanter isn’t available, offer to pour the wine into the glass so it can breathe into the glass. Despite popular belief, simply removing the cap or cork has no real short-term effect on the wine.

presentation

Always present the bottle to the right of the person who ordered the wine. The bottle should not be open at this point. Make sure the label is facing the host, and repeat the year, winery, and type of wine to make sure it’s correct. Wait for approval before opening.

Pour approximately 30ml of wine into the host’s glass and wait for approval. If they agree, serve the wine clockwise around the table, ladies first and host last, pouring even amounts into each glass. After each pour, rotate the bottle slightly counter-clockwise to prevent dripping. Always pour with the glass on the table and avoid contact between the bottle and the glass.

After all guests have been served, place the bottle with the label to the right of the host. If a cold wine is being served, place the ice bucket next to the host.

Keep an eye on the table and refill the glasses as needed.

tips

Familiarize yourself with your wine list and recommend wines to your customers in a friendly and helpful manner.

Have a basic understanding of wine pairing. If you just know that white wine goes well with seafood and salads and red wine goes well with meat, that’s at least a start. If you want to learn more about pairing foods with specific types of wine, http://www.foodandwinepairing.org/ is a good resource.

Be sure to ask what wines the customer typically likes, because even if you suggest a perfectly paired wine to go with the meal, wine tasting is an entirely subjective experience!

Bottom up!

Peter Papanikitas – Managing Director EWD

Table of Contents

Opening a wine bottle is somewhere between opening a gift and a time capsule. It’s part celebration and part transmission.

That is why opening wine bottles is a bit more complicated in the grand scheme of bottle opening. It’s also really difficult to do this if you don’t have the right tool handy.

In this post, we will go over how to properly open a wine bottle. Usually. Reasonable. But after that all bets are void. Because we cover how to open wine bottles without a corkscrew. Keep a wine stain remover nearby, just in case.

And luckily, your ability to pour a standard wine or provide the right glasses to aerate your wine doesn’t depend on whether or not you opened the bottle with a shoe. You also don’t need to know how to clean a wine carafe. You might find one of these top wine aerators handy.

How to open a wine bottle with a corkscrew

Opening a wine bottle with a wine bottle opener is a gradual process. We will lay it out step by step. And we’re assuming you open your wine bottle with a corkscrew on a wine key, a type of wine bottle opener.

Step 1: Cut the foil under the bottom lip of the bottle. Cut it around the neck of the bottle. Then you can remove the top of the foil cleanly. Like taking off someone’s hat politely. Put the slide in your pocket.

Step 2: Push the tip of the corkscrew into the center of the cork and squeeze just enough to break the top of the cork. This is where you will drill down. You are positioning the corkscrew. Next, straighten the corkscrew while holding the tip.

Step 3: Turn the corkscrew about 6 to 7 times. Or how long it takes before the hook of the corkscrew lever is able to snap onto the top lip of the bottle.

Step 4: Place the lever on top of the bottle and push down to pull out the cork. Don’t do this too fast. There shouldn’t be a popping sound. Once the cork is almost completely out, wiggle it and gently pull and finally remove by hand.

Step 5: Wipe off any sediment or bits of cork from the rim of the bottle.

Step 6: Put the cork on the table and your corkscrew in your pocket.

If you’re not using a wine key and are using a corkscrew with two collapsible handles, the process is similar. The difference is that if you’re trying to open a wine bottle with a corkscrew, you’ll need to find a knife to cut the foil. And you don’t have to angle the tip of the corkscrew before screwing it in. They are designed to be placed directly on the wine bottle right from the start.

But wait, what if you don’t have a corkscrew? It’s all ok.

How to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew

You are trying to open a wine bottle without a bottle opener, wine opener or corkscrew. You’re not alone. It is a frequently searched topic on the internet. And since the internet is the internet, there are many solutions out there. Here are the most foolproof.

How to open a wine bottle with a lighter

This is our favorite way to open a wine bottle without a wine opener. But please be careful. Fire is part of it.

First remove the foil or wax to expose the cork. Then use a lighter and apply the flame to the neck of the bottle, just below the cork. The idea is to heat the air under the cork. This causes the air to expand and push the cork up.

Rotate the lighter placement around the neck of the bottle to ensure you heat all of the air. In a minute or two you’ll see the cork crawl up and out.

This is our preferred method as there is no risk of breaking the cork and it is not something you learn from a wine book.

How to open a wine bottle with a key

Another way to open a wine bottle without a bottle opener is with a standard house key. This method is far less elegant than using a lighter. And it excels in synthetic corks over wooden corks.

Take a towel and a key. Orient your key at a 45 degree angle and insert the tip into the cork. Directly on one of the sides and pointing towards the center of the cork. The goal is to skewer the cork at an angle and cross the middle. Once the key is in, take the towel and place it over the key so you can push the key down hard. Do this until the key’s teeth are almost completely in the cork.

Then insert the key firmly and try to move it in a circular motion while lifting it up a bit. Repeat this until the cork starts to move up slowly. Be careful not to lift the key too aggressively or you’ll just pull it out of the cork. Or let the cork disintegrate into the wine. Tannins in wine are one thing, but cork in wine is an entirely different matter.

How to open a wine bottle with a knife

Here’s how to open a bottle without a wine bottle opener, in a very similar way to the key method above.

You’ll use a fairly sharp steak knife (a butter knife doesn’t work as well, and you should avoid a jackknife for safety reasons). The goal is to spear the center of the cork down and at an angle. So insert the knife right at the edge of the cork, angled towards the center. Push it down about an inch. Then you have enough grip on the cork to push or pull it in a circular motion.

Eventually the cork will come loose and come up a bit. It’s basically the key method, but with a knife.

However, there are some considerations that need to be made based on more unique styles of wine.

How to open a wine bottle with a shoe

And finally the masterpiece. The most epic and artistic way to open a wine bottle without a wine key. With a shoe.

It’s a little-known fact that every sommelier learns how to open a wine bottle with a shoe during their certification. Just in case.

That is not true. We’re sorry.

Let’s just get into that. Place the wine bottle in the shoe, its base upright where your heel would normally rest. Find a hard surface, ideally a brick wall, and hit it repeatedly with the bottom of the heel of your shoe. After a few taps, the cork should have moved up slightly. At this point you can wring it out with your hand.

And trust us, there’s nothing quite like opening a wine bottle with a shoe and pouring it straight into a beautiful wine decanter. Here’s a great resource on decanting wine if you’re intrigued. You can also learn how to clean a decanter so your crystal can shine brightly.

How to open a champagne bottle

The process is different when trying to figure out how to open a Roscato wine bottle. Or any other champagne bottle with a screw cap or pressure bottle.

First, always keep the bottle away from guests and always keep a thumb or hand on the cork. Then remove the foil by either pulling on the tab or cutting it cleanly at the bottom of the cage. Untwist the wire cage and unclip to remove. Tighten the cork, hold the bottle at a 45 degree angle, and rotate the bottle (not the cork). Do this until the cork comes off and let the CO2 flow gently.

Two things should be emphasized again here. The wire cage should only be removed after the cork has come loose from the bottle. And the bottle should be twisted, not the cork.

How to open a waxed wine bottle

If you have a wine bottle sealed with wax, you might be tempted to cut through the wax like foil. You should follow this temptation. Because that’s the right thing.

There may also be a pull tab on the wax. If so, great. Pull it and you can easily remove the wax. But if not, simply use the knife on your corkscrew to neatly trim the wax around the neck of the bottle. Then you can lift off the top of the waxy sheet. Then it goes on as usual.

That’s how you open a wine bottle!

Ideally you have a good wine bottle opener. If not, hopefully you have a nice, sturdy shoe. And when the bottle is open, you can start the next step of the wine service: pouring the wine. We recommend reading first how many ounces are in a wine bottle.

You can also complement your wine pouring efforts with some wine pourers or wine glasses with pouring lines. However, to get the most out of your newly opened bottle, go with it.

Kitchen tool for cork pulling wine bottles

Three types of corkscrews: two modern (left and below) and one ancient (right)

A simple corkscrew

A corkscrew is a tool for pulling corks out of wine bottles and other household bottles that can be corked. In its traditional form, a corkscrew consists simply of a pointed metallic spiral (often referred to as a “worm”) attached to a handle that the user screws into the cork and pulls to extract it. Corkscrews are necessary because corks themselves, being small and smooth, are difficult to grasp and remove, especially when fully inserted into an inflexible glass bottle. Newer types of corkscrews incorporate various lever systems that further increase the outward force that can be applied to the cork, making it easier to extract difficult corks.

history [edit]

Its design may derive from the gunworm, which was a device used by men to remove unspent charges from a musket’s barrel in a similar manner, since at least the early 1630s.

The corkscrew may be an English invention, given the tradition of beer and cider, and John Worlidge’s 1676 Treatise on Cider describes the “binning of tightly corked cider bottles by their sides”, although the earliest reference to a corkscrew is “steel”. Worm for pulling corks out of bottles” from 1681.[1]

The first corkscrew patent was granted to Reverend Samuel Henshall in England in 1795. The clergyman fastened a simple washer, now known as the Henshall button, between the worm and the shaft. The washer prevents the auger from going too deep into the cork, forcing the cork to rotate with the rotation of the crosspiece, thus breaking the bond between the cork and the bottleneck. The disc is designed and manufactured to be slightly concave on the underside, which compresses the top of the cork and helps prevent it from breaking apart.[2]

A person who collects corkscrews is a helixophile.[3][4]

Types [ edit ]

Basic[ edit ]

In its traditional form, a corkscrew is simply a steel screw attached to a vertical handle made of wood or other material. The user grasps the handle and screws the metal tip into the cork until the coil is firmly embedded, then a vertical pull on the corkscrew pulls the cork out of the bottle. The corkscrew handle allows for a secure grip to facilitate cork removal.

Winged corkscrew[edit]

A winged corkscrew with an exposed rack and pinion mechanism

The winged corkscrew, sometimes called a corkscrew, butterfly corkscrew, owl corkscrew, or angel corkscrew, has two levers, one on each side of the worm. When the worm is twisted into the cork, the levers are raised. Depressing the lever pulls the cork out of the bottle in one gentle motion. The most common design has a rack and pinion connecting the levers to the body. The head of the central shaft is often modified to form a bottle opener or foil cutter, thereby increasing the utility of the device. Corkscrews of this type are particularly popular in the home.

In 1880, William Burton Baker was granted British Patent No. 2950 for his double-lever corkscrew, in which both levers slide onto the top of the shaft.[5]

The first American patent was granted in 1930[6] to Italian Domenico Rosati[7] who emigrated to Chicago, Illinois to work as a bartender before Prohibition. Rosati’s design had an exposed rack and pinion mechanism. This design was adopted by other brands as the wine market grew in popularity.[8]

The winged owl version, with two side plates covering the rack and pinion mechanism, was first designed and manufactured in 1932 by Spanish industrial designer David Olañeta for his BOJ brand[9] and later adopted by others such as: B. 1936 US Patent No. 98,968 by Richard Smythe entitled HOOTCH-OWL.[10][8]

Sommelier knife [ edit ]

A sommelier knife

A sommelier knife, waiter’s knife or wine key is a corkscrew in a folding body similar to a pocket knife. It was developed in 1882 by the German Karl Wienke and patented in Germany, England and America.[1]

One arm extends to bear against the lip of the bottle to provide leverage when removing the cork. Some sommelier knives have two levels on the lever, often also a bottle opener. In the handle end is a small hinged knife blade that is used to cut the foil that wraps the necks of many wine bottles. A corkscrew of this type can be used more quickly (and with more “show” or panache) than a wing-type corkscrew.

The term “wine key” came about because of the surname of the German inventor Wienke, which was difficult for English speakers to pronounce. When ordering the product from catalogues, the meaning and origin of the new Wienke corkscrew was gradually lost and it was simply referred to as a “wine key”. Patent number 283,731, August 21, 1883, simply refers to it as “C.F.A. WIENKE LEVER CORKSCREW”.

Two prong corkscrew [ edit ]

A two-pronged corkscrew

Also known as the Butler’s Friend or “Ah-So” (from German oh so!, meaning I get it now!) [citation needed], the two-pronged corkscrew can pull out a cork without damaging it to avoid breaking the cork tasting wine before reinserting the stopper. The stopper is removed by sliding the prongs between the cork and the neck of the bottle and twisting the stopper out of the bottle. To replace the stopper, take it between the two prongs, then twist it into the bottle and pull the prongs out. It can also extract a plug in poor condition.

Lever corkscrew[edit]

A lever corkscrew

The lever or “rabbit” corkscrew is operated with a pair of handles that are used to grip the neck of the bottle and a lever that is simply pushed down to turn the screw in the cork and then lifted to release pull out the cork. The cork is ejected from the device by a similar pushing/lifting motion.[11] This type of corkscrew is much bulkier and typically much more expensive than other types, but is much faster.

A table mounted corkscrew

Mounted corkscrew[ edit ]

These were invented in the late 1800’s for use in homes, hotel bars and restaurants at a time when all bottles were corked. They are screwed or clamped to counters or walls. When beer was sold in bottles, bars had to open quickly. Most early mounted corkscrews were designed to open beer bottles with short corks. Modern ones are made for longer wine corks.[12]

screwdriver [ edit ]

In 1979, Herbert Allen introduced the Screwpull corkscrew. The device should make opening wine bottles foolproof.

The Screwpull wraps around the top of the bottle, with a plastic screw that simply needs to be twisted to effortlessly remove the cork. The spiral is coated with Teflon, which reduces friction as it twists into the cork and ensures it is removed intact without pulling.[13][14]

The Screwpull is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.[15]

A screwpull type corkscrew

In 1992 the company was sold to Le Creuset.

Other [edit]

There are many other types of corkscrews that are not widely used in consumer environments, such as B. high-priced, complex devices for specialists and for industrial purposes.

See also[edit]