Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Atelier du Vin's 'Soft Machine Corkscrew'. Below is one UK retailer's description. (Price can be as high as £42 in UK.) Google it for a picture - I tried to attach one below and failed! It's the Waiter's Friend design but the gearing at the top means the cork comes out straight. So it doesn't need the double-hinging of the Pulltap design (which is more cheaply made - and mine has just broken!)

Very stylish, very well-machined. Solid and sleek in the hand. A real pleasure to use. Hope it's available in US.





Soft Machine Corkscrew
£27.99 sale price £23.79
Luxury corkscrew providing the worlds first innovative one move corkscrew action. This item also doubles as a foil cutter. The Soft Machine® extracts the cork from your bottle in one swift move - in a completely fluid and smooth operation. This is down to its unique gear system, where the cork is pulled out vertically, without any torsion or effort, minimising any damage to the cork. (Perfect for old bottles of wine where the cork has started to weaken.)

I've been pretty happy with the Pulltaps "double lever" - and they're only about $10.

Here's a pic of the Soft Machine Corkscrew:

To post pictures, you have to be on the "Post A Reply" page (can't do it from Quick Reply) and you have to have the file on your hard drive.

Below the "Save" "Preview" "Submit" buttons are a couple of tabs.

Click the "Upload attachment" tab
Click the "Browse" button to the right of the "Filename" box which opens a "Choose file to upload" window
Navigate to the file that's been saved on your computer and choose it
Click the "Add the file" box.
Add a caption if you wish in the "File comment" box.

The picture wont load into your editing box but it will show up if you hit "Preview," and it will be there in the post when you hit "Submit."

Thanks, David - and for the advice!

My Pulltap broke the other day - and I have found the 'lip' on the hinge is a bit too small to get a grip on the rim of some bottles...

R

My favorite is the Wüstof waiters corkscrew; I like it because it's all metal, has a wickedly effective foil cutter.

I like that, a lot

I don't use corkscrews for the most part. Somewhere I got probably for nothing this incredibly cheap plastic and wire "tweezer" thingy. At first I ignored it and then one day I was sans counter-screwpull and used this. I've never gone back. It's fabulous. I bet it would work great on rotten corks too. Anyone know what I'm describing? It's just two flattened wires that insert on opposite sides of the cork. I wiggle it into the neck and then twist out.

Yes, those two-pronged cork pullers are calles Ah-So. Based on an American patent, actually, and great for crumbly corks. Can be a problem with loose corks though, as it can push them into the bottle.

DavidG wrote:Yes, those two-pronged cork pullers are calles Ah-So. Based on an American patent, actually, and great for crumbly corks. Can be a problem with loose corks though, as it can push them into the bottle.

I had high hope the Ah-So would help me open those old bottles with slightly shrunken corks, but David is right. No matter how careful you are, the Ah-So just pushes the whole cork into the bottle. So to me, worthless.

~stuart

It depends. If the cork is tight, sometimes due to leakage, the Ah-So is great for loosening the cork a bit. If the cork is loose, I try to catch it with a waiter's corkscrew and pull the cork out enough to use the Ah-So or a Screwpull.

stefan