I have tried a lot of corkscrews over the years, and in general I have been disappointed. Most of those available fail in at least one of the two critical criteria: they don’t remove corks cleanly and easily, and/or they are fragile. However I bought a Rabbit a couple of years ago and am finally content. I think the Metrokane Rabbit two-step corkscrew achieves the gold standard.
The most important quality of a corkscrew is that (duh!) it removes corks easily and efficiently. The Rabbit has the key features needed to do the job. It has a slim but strong screw with a coating that allows it to easily screw into even old and hard corks. It is robustly built and very comfortable in the hand. The blade for removing foil is sharp and nicely shaped. The fact that it costs no more than a decent bottle of table wine is icing on the cake.
This particular design is called a waiter corkscrew, but the best examples have a two stage (“two step”) lever action. The Rabbit is a two stage model and it works brilliantly . The two stage action gives you a mechanical advantage that comes in very handy when trying to remove a long cork, such as those used in vintage Bordeaux wines.
Here’s how the two stage action works:
This corkscrew is highly recommended. For those who live in the Ottawa area, I got mine at the excellent C.A. Paradis store on Bank Street.
True, all true…but those *&^^##@ synthetic corks (what ARE they made of anyway?) can be difficult, slippery suckers even for the Rabbit. I used to regard screw caps with the snobbish disdain of someone who had thumbed though a few too many old copies of Wine Spectator. Nowadays so many of the corks on ‘daily’ (not special occasion) wines are cheap, nasty, crumbly things, or the dreaded synthetic….so I’ve changed my tune quite a bit. Still, I have to admit that there is something very satisfying in the ritual of removing the cork, and the waiter corkscrew is the best of all for that.
Donna, I too have become a convert to the screw cap. Far too many bottles are corked – I have seen estimates of up to 10%. However, it’s hard to imagine that Chateau Grand-Puy Lacoste et al are going to go to screw caps any day soon, so a corkscrew is needed. And yes, it is satisfying. I take a foolishly large amount of pleasure out of being able to flick my Rabbit open and closed one-handed. 🙂
part of me is applauding…another part muttering ‘show off’! I need two hands and a cool head. I blame my abnormally small hands. Same reason I didn’t become a concert pianist.
🙂 It’s a Y chromosome thing. It’s not enough to know how to use the tool, you have to do it with style. I am reminded of a Vietnamese guy who used to work with me on construction. Watching him strip and assemble the Hilti nail gun was a thing of beauty. (Skills built while he was an ARVN soldier).
I agree entirely! I don’t know how we managed before that style was invented – we lived in frustration, for sure!