Corkscrews and openers

How to choose

There are few things more awkward than a cork snapped in half in front of your guests, especially when the bottle is a special one. And it’s almost never the cork’s fault, it’s the corkscrew’s. In my years in the trade I’ve seen sommeliers open a thirty-year-old gran reserva without a crumb in the wine, and hosts with an enviable cellar wrestling with a freebie promotional opener.

Above you’ll find the comparison of the nine types of corkscrew out there and my three recommendations by level. Here I explain what makes a corkscrew good, how to use it like a professional and which combination I’d have at home.

What makes a corkscrew good

Whatever the type: if it fails on these points, it isn’t worth it, whatever it costs.

The worm (or spiral)

It’s the most important part. A good worm should be:

• Hollow in the middle, like a spring, not a solid screw. A hollow worm grips the cork without tearing it; a solid screw acts like a drill and shreds it.
• Long, about five turns, to reach the bottom of the long corks in wines for ageing (in great Bordeaux and Riojas they often exceed 50 mm).
• Non-stick coated or finely polished, so it goes in smoothly.
• With the tip centred on the worm’s axis, so it goes in straight.

The fulcrum

The lever is what saves you effort. The straighter the extraction, the less chance the cork has of breaking, especially with old, dry corks. That’s why the double step is now standard on quality waiter’s corkscrews.

The blade and materials

A micro-serrated blade cuts the foil cleanly below the lip of the bottle, so the wine doesn’t touch the metal as you pour. In artisan pieces, the steel, the fit of the parts and the handle matter too: olive wood, horn or fine woods that age well with use.

How to use a waiter’s corkscrew like a sommelier

1. Cut the foil below the lip, turning the bottle rather than your wrist.
2. Place the tip of the worm slightly off-centre and straighten the worm as you start turning, so it goes in through the centre of the cork.
3. Turn until one turn of the worm is left showing. Don’t bury it completely: going right through the cork drops crumbs into the wine.
4. Rest the first step on the rim and lift the handle halfway.
5. Switch to the second step and finish pulling the cork out with a smooth, straight movement.
6. Finish the last few millimetres by hand, twisting the cork slightly: it comes out silently, just like in a restaurant.

The story of the double step

The classic waiter’s corkscrew had just one fulcrum: you had to pull hard at the end and the cork came out at an angle. In the mid-nineties, an inventor from Sabadell, Ramón Brucart, patented the double-lever system: first you pull the cork halfway and then you finish straight with the second step. That invention gave rise to Pulltap’s, and today the great French artisans use it too.

Old corks: the right tool

If you have wines over twenty years old, a worm alone isn’t enough. The cork dries out, loses elasticity and crumbles. That’s where the two-prong opener (Ah-So type) comes in, hugging the cork without piercing it, and The Durand, which combines worm and prongs for the safest extraction I know. If you keep collector’s bottles, having one of the two is almost a must.

What if the cork breaks?

It happens to the best of us:

1. If a piece is left inside, drive the worm in again at an angle, resting it against the glass, and pull very carefully. If you have a two-prong opener, now’s the time to use it.
2. If the piece crumbles, push it in and decant the wine through a fine strainer. The wine won’t spoil from a few minutes in contact with the cork.
3. If it happens to you often, check the worm: it’s probably worn or solid.

Common mistakes

• Not cutting the foil, or cutting it above the lip: the wine brushes the metal as you pour.
• Driving the worm in crooked, which leaves a very thin wall of cork on one side.
• Going right through the cork, which drops crumbs into the wine.
• Using a worm on a 30-year-old cork: that’s a job for the two-prong opener or the Durand.
• Opening a sparkling wine with a worm: never. Take off the cage, hold the cork and turn the bottle.