Corkscrews

Corkscrews come in many shapes and styles. A good one is easy to use and only the point of the screw is sharp so it won’t shred the cork. Short of automatic corkscrews that run on batteries, there are numerous manual options. The “butterfly” has wings that you pull down on to do the job. The “boxwood reverse” utilizes a handle you turn to screw the cork out. A better variation on it is the “screwpull”. The old-fashioned “T-bar” relies on brute strength to extract a cork. Possibly the best and most reliable is the “lever” or “waiter’s helper” which uses leverage to get the sucker out. There’s also the “Ah-so” which has two steel blades, one longer than the other. Inserted down the sides of the cork, it removes it with a twisting pull.