What to Consider While Purchasing a Wine Bottle Opener?

Corkscrews and wine bottle openers are a vital component of any foodservice operation or establishment that is seeking to serve wine to their customers. Such tools may appear as a simple object as they serve one purpose. Yet, they are available for serving several purposes and the consumer’s choice varies frequently.

In this blog, we are going to learn different aspects of a wine bottle opener and what you need to consider while buying one.

Anatomy of a Corkscrew

There are several styles and types of wine bottle openers. Regardless of their differences in designs and making, openers generally at least have a corkscrew worm, handle, and boot lever to remove corks. Other features such as bottle cap removers and foil cutters are also common features found on a few corkscrew styles.

Let’s find out what they are:

●       Corkscrew worm: It is typically a single metal helix that drives into the cork of the wine for removing it from the bottle. The helix clutches the cork as it is rotated in so that the cork can be easily and completely removed from the wine bottle.

●       Foil cutter: It is generally a small and serrated blade or wheel that is used for slice opening the protective foil covering at the top of the wine bottle.

●       Corkscrew handle: It offers the necessary grip and leverage required for removing corks from the wine bottles. Handle lengths, styles, and materials vary largely across the various types of corkscrews.

●       Corkscrew boot lever: Ir offers extra leverage to remove off the wine cork out of the wine bottles. These are essentially discovered on waiter's corkscrews.

●       Bottlecap remover: It transforms a wine bottle opener from simply being capable of opening a wine bottle to popping the tops off soda or beer bottles. Bottlecap removers are built on several types of corkscrews.

What to Consider When Purchasing a Corkscrew

Before you plan to buy a wine bottle opener for yourself or for giving it away as a gift, you must consider a few things as described below:

Ease of Use

The first and most important thing to consider at the time of purchasing a wine bottle opener or corkscrew is the ease of use. A wine opener that is difficult to use may result in broken corks, cork crumbs in the drink, or you might end up unable to move off the cork off the bottle. Due to this reason, many large establishments or operations have shifted towards the electric corkscrews, wall mount, or counter mount as these designs make the process of cork removal incredibly easy and simple for everyone.  

Cork Type

Distinct varieties of corkscrews specialize in removing different types of cork. To begin with, there are mainly two kinds of wine corks: natural and synthetic cork. Synthetic corks are the ones that are denser than natural corks that require more force in twisting the worm into the cork. The most significant aspect of a synthetic cork is that it is less likely to break apart while extraction. On the other hand, natural corks are more sensitive and brittle to removal when compared to synthetic. The benefit of natural cork is that it properly age wines stored over a long time period.

Cost

Smaller establishments or operation with staff trained in opening wine cork or sommeliers may prefer to pick a waiter’s or pocket corkscrew. Generally, these corkscrews are less expensive than other openers and are inexpensive to be replaced. Large, high-volume establishments should prefer the more expensive counter mount, wall mount, and electric corkscrews. It is so because these designs make the opening of bottles easier and quicker which is helping in recouping their cost in saved labor.

Size

Corkscrews come in different sizes. However, smaller corkscrews that are also called waiter’s or pocket corkscrews are considered an ideal choice for staff on the move. Such openers are easy to fit inside a pants pocket or an apron. Plus, they are lightweight. In contrast, larger corkscrews like counter mount, electric, and wall mount corkscrews are suitable for a single location where the staff carries wine bottles for opening them. Often, these larger wine bottle openers are easier and faster to use as compared to smaller corkscrews.

Types of Corkscrew or Wine Bottle Opener

There are several types of wine bottle and beer bottle opener. Each of them has different advantages and varies in the way they are used to remove the cork from the bottle. Below, we have described distinct varieties of corkscrews:

●       Waiter’s Corkscrew

●       Pocket Corkscrew

●       Wing Corkscrew

●       Electric Corkscrew

●       Counter Mount Corkscrews

●       Lever Corkscrews

●       Wine Cork Extractors

●       Wall Mount Corkscrews

●       Continuous Pull Corkscrews

How to Use a Waiter's Corkscrew?

Waiter’s corkscrew is also known as the wine key and is considered the standard tool by most food establishments. They provide the perfect combination of functionality, affordability, and compact size. Further, such an opener is considered the oldest form of opening a wine bottle. Since the Waiter’s Corkscrew is the most popular one used by both the waiter and most people, so here we are going to describe the steps to use it:

Step 1: You should begin by cutting the foil under the bottle’s lip.

Step 2: Once you have cut the foil, remove it from the neck of the bottle.

Step 3: Now, you are supposed to place the worm in the center of the cork. Then, you need to twist the corkscrew so that the worm gets inserted into the cork completely.

Step 4: The next you need to place the first, small boot lever notch on the bottle’s lip and hold it in place.

Step 5: Then, in order to pull the cork almost halfway out of the bottle, lever the handle up.

Step 6: The next you need to move the second boot lever notch to the bottle’s tip. Then, pull the cork off the rest the way out of the bottle.

Step 7:  Ultimately, to remove the cork from the worm, you need to follow the process in the reverse motion while holding onto the cork.