Suggestions for Corkscrews and Openers

Personally I have two wine opening tools and am happy with both of them.

Both are based on an ordinary corkscrew, but be sure it's the kind that looks like a snake winding its way around an invisible pole, rather than the kind that looks like a big wood screw.

The first mounts this inside a two piece wooden screw itself. You twist the unit to compact it, then put the corkscrew into the bottle cork with the small T handle. Once it's in, you twist the large T handle which unscrews the two wood pieces, pulling the cork out. It's my favorite.

The second is the corkscrew that comes on my Swiss Army Knife. Simple, sensible, always available.

Now, if you are opening fifteen bottles at once, you may want something more assembly-line. But opening a bottle of your extra special whatever, these work fine.

Jose

The original Leverpull's patent expired, and there are tons of inexpensive copies. For example, Linen 'n Things (a chain store in the Northeast U.S.) has had versions of it for around ten dollars.

Shaun Eli

If you want comparable technology, as Shaun says there are a lot of Screwpull knockoffs.

I'm personally partial to waiter's style corkscrews- efficient, compact. I have a nice Laguiole that is my number one home one (because my wife gave it to me) but the one I carry around to offlines and picnics (so I don't need to obsess about not losing it) is a simple waiters' Pulltap (double-hinged, Teflon worm).

As previously notes, be sure that you get a open spiral (aka helix) corkscrew, not a solid screw/auger.