The Auswine Forum

Having nothing better to do this evening I ended up on YouTube looking at "how to use a corkscrew" videos. Somewhat entertaining was the American who announced himself as a "level 1 soooomelyayyy" (Imagine the drawl please) and a cute bubbly chick flogging her own range of corkscrews and during the demo butchered the foil and the cork.

Cutting to the meat of the topic, everyone suggests placing the tip of the helix/worm/screw dead centre of the cork. Now I have always put the screw tip slightly off centre so that the screw would actually go down equal centre of the cork rather than to one side which happens when you do place the screw in the centre. I've never had the screw crack the side of a cork my way.

Does it make a difference? Does anyone care?

With old corks, I try to avoid going directly vertical, as with old corks the thread can just come straight through the cork as you pull it out. A little angle isn't going to make a whole heap of difference, but I reckon it does help reduce the risk. On very old corks, then the 'butler's thief' (aka ah-so) implement can be much better, or sometimes rescue a cork that breaks quite high up. Those that use them swear by the Durand, a clever (but expensive) combination of both devices.

My method is bung it in roughly in the centre and pull it out. I may have been under-thinking this though

Slightly off centre here too.

rossmckay wrote:My method is bung it in roughly in the centre and pull it out. I may have been under-thinking this though

Sorry Ross, it would appear that you're taking this far too lightly.

RobK wrote:Having nothing better to do this evening I ended up on YouTube looking at "how to use a corkscrew" videos.

Man you must have really been bored!

Willard wrote:

RobK wrote:Having nothing better to do this evening I ended up on YouTube looking at "how to use a corkscrew" videos.

Man you must have really been bored!

I wuz. I can't stomach TV and I was really enjoying a nice quiet Tabilk and too cold and miserable to anything else. It happens.

rens wrote:Slightly off centre here too.

+1 from me on the overthinking!

Depending on the cork, I'll use one of three methods:
Robust cork: the pump. Plunge the needle into the centre of the cork, pump until the air pressure pushes the cork out of the bottle. Doesn't work if the cork is brittle or very old, as it's sometimes not airtight after you've pumped in the first breath of air...
Old cork: one of the fancy gizmos. Either the lever or the wing corkscrew. But I'll only use them gently, as sometimes a very old cork will try to let you have the centre of the cork without the edges (yech!). If the cork shows the slightest signs of this, then I abort and go the third method...
Fragile cork: the bilame or Butler's friend. This is the one which allows the cork to be pulled from the outside of the cork instead of from the centre. You can even use a 'T' corkscrew (with a thin crossbar) at the same time to enable you to pull from both the middle and edges of the cork.

I wish I got more corks of this last variety, as it would mean that I am opening really old bottles. Unfortunately, most of mine can be opened with the pump - no problem.

And unless I'm out at a picnic or something, I never bother with a "waiters friend". Yes, they're small and fit in your pocket, but they've got to be one of the most hit 'n' miss ways of pulling a cork from a bottle.

Cloth Ears wrote:And unless I'm out at a picnic or something, I never bother with a "waiters friend". Yes, they're small and fit in your pocket, but they've got to be one of the most hit 'n' miss ways of pulling a cork from a bottle.

Not all "waiters friend" corkscrews are created equal. There's plenty of rubbish corkscrews on the market which are awful to use. I find the good ones to be one of the most useful and reliable of all the gadgets for pulling a cork. I like the instant feedback I get which allows me to change my technique to suit the cork at hand.The goods ones have a grooved corkscrew so it easily glides into corks and also a two-step lever which makes applying the right amount of pulling force easy at any stage of the cork removal.

I must admit, I love pulling a cork out. Even as a young feller working on the floor of a Brissy restaurant with a cheap corkscrew and pulling the corks out of at least 30 bottles of Ben Ean Moselle every night, I enjoyed each experience. Even these days, I still use the old corkscrew which must have pulled over 2000 corks, just for the nostalgia.