Waiters Corkscrew

[Chateau Vin]

Wondering what is the best corkscrew that is well made and reliable? My corkscrew broke the other day (as it was a cheap imitation), and there are dozens of sellers out there selling cheap quality one which won't last long.

I was looking for Pulltap (or Pulltex?, as the naming is again confusing with that brand) on Amazon, and boy they have so many crappily made knockouts. Any suggestions where to get a genuine one? Or any other corkscrew suggestions?

[stefan]

Buy a few cheap double hinged waiter's corkscrew and throw them away when they break. I don't see the point in paying $30-$50 for one. In fact, some wine stores will give them to you if you are a good customer. But you need something better than a waiter's corkscrew for older wines. I use a Durand, which is well worth its high price (around $125) for wines more than 20 years old. I also have a few ah-so and screwpulls that come in handy for intermediate age wines because they are easier to use than the Durand, as well as rabbit knock offs that I bought at T.J. Maxx for almost nothing.

[jal]

What Stefan said (more or less). The double hinged one we use is the Pulltap:
https://www.amazon.com/Pulltex-5100-Pul ... 74855&th=1

They last a couple of years

We also use for young wines the True Twister:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RFUB0K/re ... ljaz10cnVl

Durand for older wines

I got rid of my old screwpulls (rabbits), we now live in a small condos and these things take up too much space

[stefan]

Right now Amazon lists an 8 pack of double hinged waiter's corkscrews for $16.

https://www.amazon.com/Corkscrew-Stainl ... 69&sr=8-37

[Gerry M.]

I'm a long time user of a Durand, expensive but worth every penny.

[JoelD]

The pulltap that Jacques recommended is what I love for any young and middle aged wines. Sturdy but flexible. I never break off a good cork with one, even iffy corks are usually fine but for those and anything older that 20 years I only use the Durand.

[Tom In DC]

Piling on here, the Pulltap's is the real deal for a two-step waiter's corkscrew.

The Durand is great and an essential tool but the ah so part is like pushing a brick into the neck of the bottle. I swapped out the impressive looking but crappy, cork shredding original tongs with the Westpark Monopol ah so. Sooo much better.

[Racer Chris]

I recently bought the Monopol Ah-so and I'm very happy so far, opening 3 bdx bottles older than 1985 already, with 100% success.
I have yet to use a Durand. I also don't think there's a waiter's corkscrew anywhere in my house.
The corkscrew I use is an expensive one from Monopol. I only wish it had a laser drilled hole down the center to relieve vacuum as the cork is being extracted. That would prevent the only failures I have, where the bottom 1 cm of cork separates and dives into the wine, sometimes at high velocity.

[DavidG]

Piling on here, the Pulltap's is the real deal for a two-step waiter's corkscrew.

The Durand is great and an essential tool but the ah so part is like pushing a brick into the neck of the bottle. I swapped out the impressive looking but crappy, cork shredding original tongs with the Westpark Monopol ah so. Sooo much better.

Brilliant! Such a simple and obvious fix… that I never thought of even though the Monopol sits in the same drawer as the Durand. D’oh!

[AKR]

I use a Monopol Ah-So for 95% of bottles and am very fast with it. I prefer it to just about every kind of wine opening gadget. I think it was $20 on Amazon five or ten years ago and it seems fairly tough. I'm usually not dealing with super crumbly corks that might need a Durand; typical storage temps are in the 50Fs and 60% humidity for us.

For whatever reasons, my Ah So doesn't work on Nomacorc and other synthetics, so I end up having to pull out a waiters screwpull.

I only have a single Ah-So so I keep an eye on it when I travel or go to restaurants (with an older bottle).