Wine Openers

It is curious to note that many people struggle with selecting good wine openers. It is a ceremonious act, and has a great reward with its famous "Pop," but there is no denying the struggle. Happily, today's wine bottle openers have made the task easier and more enjoyable for all.

Recognizing that pretty much any of the corkscrews on the market can remove a cork, product reviewers focus on ease of use and efficiency. Good Housekeeping has the most comprehensive coverage, testing 24 corkscrews from budget brands to "ultimate investments."

It's hard to find much of a consensus on the best corkscrews. The better owner-written wine-opener ratings are balanced, citing pros and cons, with comparisons to other wine bottle openers.

Types of Bottle Openers

It is estimated that there are hundreds of devices designed simply for the purpose of removing a cork from a wine bottle. Most of these involve some sort of corkscrew. Corkscrews are usually either Archimedian Screws or Helix Screws.

According to some, Archimedian Screws have a bad reputation, known for chewing into the cork and causing parts to break off, peppering the wine with bits of wood. This is why many wine lovers prefer the Helix Screw, a screw that has a better grip, allowing a more uniform removal.

As for all the different types of corkscrews, there are dozens. From wine bottle openers encased in silver to those engraved with the initials of people celebrating a 50-year wedding anniversary, these openers come in all shapes, sizes and forms.

The Waiter’s Corkscrew is a corkscrew that comes with a knife-edge, a lever, and a Helix screw that all fold neatly into the body (see photo below). This opener gets its name because it's the type many waiters carry, armed with the ability to open any wine bottle. These will cost about $20 USD.

Lever wine bottle openers are best overall

Corkscrews are often compared to mousetraps -- building something better than the original T-shaped worm spiral corkscrew seems futile. But tests prove that new types of openers -- especially lever wine openers -- require less muscle and effort than traditional corkscrews.

These corkscrews work by first clamping to the neck of the bottle. Then a lever (which is either pushed or pulled by handles) pushes the spiral worm into the cork. Finally, the lever reverses to pull out the cork. Some lever wine openers change the direction of the lever one last time to extract the cork from the corkscrew.

Of course, cost is usually a factor as well. The best reviews recommend the Le Creuset Screwpull Lever Model Elegance, but it will cost you close to $100 USD. FOR A CORKSCREW!?

This is a gift-giving favorite. It features a patented foil cutter that works with a twist of the wrist. The Screwpull Elegance also comes with an extra spiral worm, and the unit comes with a 10-year warranty.

Most reviewers say the Screwpull Elegance is excellent, and this consistency goes back more than a decade. In 1997, Cook's Illustrated picked a Screwpull lever wine opener as best, and Screwpull lever openers are still the favorite.

The Screwpull Elegance has a plastic body and metal handles. Owners prefer this model to the Le Creuset Screwpull Lever Model Classic, which has plastic handles.

In tests of 24 corkscrews, Good Housekeeping experts deem the Vacu Vin Winemaster to be the most reliable model at about $40. This wine opener also uses levers, but it looks a lot different compared with the Screwpull Elegance.

The Vacu Vin Winemaster is more cylindrical, described by Good Housekeeping as looking like a "medieval instrument of torture." It has one set of levers for pushing the corkscrew into the bottle and another set for pulling the cork out. It's hard to ignore the price difference.

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