A bottle of wine is a very welcome sight to see after a hard day at work, but there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to open it up and struggling to do so.
Wine bottles for years have been notoriously difficult to open and that’s why there are so many types of wine opener on the market.
The thing is, with all of these types of wine openers available to you – you can often get lost and confused as to which one you should be using and how to use it!
Do I go for an electric wine opener? A lever corkscrew? An electric corkscrew? A winged corkscrew? What type of wine opener do I need?!
Don’t panic – we’ve got this covered.
We’re going to explore all the most common type of wine openers and assess what you should do with them, along with what wine bottles they are used for and other handy tips you might need to know.
So, get a glass of wine ready – let’s do this!
Wine Key
A wine key or a waiter’s corkscrew is one of the typical types of corkscrews that you might notice in places such as restaurants, when you order your favorite bottle of wine.
Opening a bottle of wine in a restaurant appears like a simple process when a waiter does this in front of you with their wine key, right? Well, it sort of is! Here’s what they do.
First, they use a foil cutter to remove the foil from the lip and bottleneck and then place the center of the wine key into the center of the cork.
They will then twist the corkscrew so that the key goes further into the cork
They will then use the boot lever notch and additional lever to remove the cork from the bottle safely and slowly and then remove the cork from the key.
Electric Corkscrew
An electric corkscrew is considered one of the easiest ways to open wine bottles.
To open wine bottles in this way, you’d need to begin with using a foil cutter and then use the “worm” which is the twisted piece of metal you normally see with corkscrews.
As soon as the worm is placed into the cork, you simply press the button and the electric corkscrew will do the work for you.
As soon as the cork has been removed, you have to remember to remove the cork from the metal worm.
Just because it’s an electric opener does not mean it can do all the work for you!
A Pocket Corkscrew
Pocket corkscrews are useful due to their size. You can place them easily in an apron pocket or in your trouser pocket – or even in your purse.
This method will involve you removing the foil from the wine bottle head and then slowly putting the worm into the center of the cork and turning it, so it gets lodged into the cork solidly.
As soon as you have done this, you can begin to twist the corkscrew until the wine cork has come out.
This type of corkscrew is popular and an excellent choice with a wine collector or a fond wine drinker, due to its ease and affordability. They can usually remove most types of wine corks.
Winged Corkscrews
A winged corkscrew is often used to remove synthetic corks, but they are very versatile.
They aren’t the chosen method when it comes to a natural cork because if you are dealing with brittle corks or a broken cork, you could leave a lot of debris behind which will ruin your glass of wine.
To remove the cork using this corkscrew, you one again cut the foil and place the metal worm into the center of the cork.
Once this is in, turn the lever to strengthen the worm’s hold until the wings have both pointed up.
Finally, push down on the wings and remove the cork.
Lever Corkscrew
Lever corkscrews are rapidly becoming a popular choice. This might be due to its ease of access but also its affordability. All it takes is for you to remove the foil and place the worm into the cork.
Once you have done this, you simply push the lever down and then back up. It’s done! You can see why it’s among one of the popular types of corkscrew now, right?
Wine Cork Extractor
This type of bottle opener is different from the others as it does not use a worm.
Once the foil is removed, you place the prongs on both sides of the cork, and then you twist and pull until the cork has been fully removed.
Why Are Wine Bottles Corked Anyway?
The use of a wine bottle cork has been found in our heritage for thousands of years. Not only is it simple to get the material, which is from an oak tree – but they can last for around 200 years.
This makes it fantastic to allow bottles to age – and aged bottles mean a finer wine, and normally a pricier wine!
The idea for a cork is to keep oxygen out of the bottle and avoid further reactions to the liquid.
Even with this though – there have been many advances that make a cork irrelevant now, but people continue to use them.
This is likely due to their traditional nature. Ceremoniously, opening a bottle of wine goes hand in hand with the celebrations – so people have become accustomed to opening a wine bottle using corkscrews or other methods.
The Bottom Line
There are many types of wine opener and each have their own pros and cons. Typically, it’s about using the worm to remove the cork, but some wine bottles have different requirements due to their makeup.
Ensure you check which wine you are opening and which cork it has inside it. Enjoy your wine.
