Guides
Which corkscrew is best?
Here comes a totally undisguised tribute to the design of the serving corkscrew! It’s just the best tool. For my sake, you have to choose exactly the corkscrew that suits you best. But if you ask me to choose one, it’s pretty easy for me.
Morten, professional with a background in the restaurant and wine industry
The old one is the best
It sits comfortably in the hand. It doesn't take up much space in a pocket, it’s easy to use and it works flawlessly every time. There are a wealth of other corkscrews, but it’s always the waiter’s corkscrew that I come back to.
It is first and foremost a tried-and-tested and reliable tool. Since its invention and patenting in Germany in 1882, very few changes have been made to its design.
Why the waiter’s corkscrew is best
A good waiter’s corkscrew is a bit like a good pocket knife. The good thing about this type of corkscrew is that you have all the necessary functions at your fingertips without too many unnecessary tricks.
A waiter’s corkscrew has its name for a reason. Servants love it. It’s an excellent tool, and if you want to find a good screwdriver, a carpenter is a good person to ask.
Let’s take a look at the elements of the waiter’s corkscrew that make it so good.
Things that make a serving corkscrew a winner
The screw has been replaced by a spiral, and that’s a fabulous good thing. A good corkscrew is equipped with a spiral instead of a screw, as a screw very easily destroys the cork.
Therefore: go for a corkscrew with a spiral, and preferably a teflon-coated spiral.
The knife or foil cutter may be arc-shaped so that it cuts a fine round cut along the rounding of the bottle. Some of the foil cutter knives have serrations, which is very good as they don't become blunt so quickly.
I prefer a knife to a foil cutter with wheels, because with a knife I can decide where I want to cut the foil. In addition, a foil cutter is useless if the bottle is sealed with varnish or wax.
The lifting unit at the end may preferably be in two steps, so that the plug is lifted in a more constant vertical movement.
This is one of the few design improvements that the serving corkscrew has undergone since conception.
Corkscrew test winner
The corkscrew that wins the test every time is the waiter’s corkscrew. In all trade journals dealing with the wine industry, corkscrews have been tested, and sommeliers, bartenders, waiters, winemakers and other good people always return to the waiter’s corkscrew.
That’s why it’s easy to say that there are overwhelming empirical grounds for appointing the serving corkscrew as the world’s best corkscrew.
We have gathered our selection of serving corkscrews right here, so you can explore the many variants using the same design template.