Kitchen

Pulltap’s Double-Hinged Waiter’s Corkscrew

Reliable wine opener

We use these wine openers in the tasting room at our winery, as well as at home. They work. Better than everything else we have tried. We’ve been through most all the types out there. Some of our baby-boomer staff have arthritis and find that the “rabbit” openers are unusable, not to mention clumsy even for the most deft of hands. They also take up too much room and require an inordinate amount of force. The two step feature of the double-hinged model saves broken corks and sore wrists (we open 30-40 bottles of wine in a shift!). We use the bottom of the line version, but it is still very well made. It has a Teflon coated worm that far outlives the “rabbit” worms; sharp, easy to open, easy to use foil cutter, and tight hinges throughout.

They even work well with the accursed synthetic “corks”. After engaging the worm, use the shorter of the two fulcrums to start the cork out. If the closure is stubborn, move your grip on the handle to the very end, increasing your mechanical advantage. After you start the cork moving, switch to the longer fulcrum. The Spanish manufacturer Pulltex makes some pricy elegant wood/chrome/brass models that I have not tried. And per the manufacturer’s web site there are forgeries on the market. Caveat emptor.

-- David Ott 11/17/11

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