A Favorite Wine in Three Seconds Tops. Purchase A Metrokane Corkscrew Now.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010I came across the Metrokane corkscrew on a recent visit to Napa Valley. This is the best kitchen tool I have ever invested in. And so it got me thinking… And before I knew it I was finding out more than one ever wants to understand about corkscrews. And since I am a self-avowed geek and like to investigate things… You’ll have the excitement of reading about the fruits of my study! I’m hoping you find it interesting and useful. So let’s chat about corkscrews then… And see what we are able to find out .
So what is all the hubbub? Wine making dates back so far as history. Its study gets heaps of pages in the history books, but a ton less attention is devoted to wine openers. This is a bit silly seeing as you may have all the wine you would like, but if you can not open the tempting bottle, well then, all is LOST!
The Basic Corkscrew: The earliest corkscrew goes back one or two centuries when corks were first introduced to close wine bottles (among other things- like bottles for olive oil and such like ). The basic corkscrew came in a spiral shape ( often referred to as a worm- but that sounds a little revolting to me- so let’s just keep calling it a spiral ). At any rate, you would turn the spiral into the cork and then yank it out with brute force to get the cork out of the bottle. This can be a smooth and exemplary process in the best of conditions, but it may also be a total disaster.
For example, the spiral will not go in properly, you can’t pull it out, it pushes the cork all of the way in, it breaks or damages the cork in such a way that the pieces fall into the bottle, you cannot get the entire thing out and you are forced to push cork in to the bottle. So the basic corkscrew CAN work, but I would not count on it. There are still some extremely fundamental pitfalls with a basic corkscrew.
So next comes the Wing Corkscrew : This corkscrew essentially looks like it has wings because it has 2 levers opposite one another on the gadget to provide leverage to pull the cork out. This is what mom and pop had and when I was small, I could not quite figure it out- I guess that was by design.
This one works very well and I might venture to say that many individuals have this one in the back of their kitchen drawer. The drawback to this one is that the spiral on this one is kind of thick and can occasionally crack, break or crumble the cork. So not only have you now put cork into your wine, but also, you can’t put the cork back in the bottle if you do not finish the whole bottle.
So turn back the clock 100 years and picture the self-pulling corkscrew. It is in fact, the basic corkscrew with a guide. After the spiral goes in, you just keep turning in the same direction and the ’stop action’ ( or that is what they called it in my study ) will force the cork to pull itself out. Thus, the notion of self-pulling. This is fabulous, unless the cork is in there tight, then you can forget all about it. It won’t come out.
It wasn’t until 1978 that this problem was solved by Herbert Allen, a Texan oil pro who applied his drilling knowledge to the self-pulling corkscrew. By employing a Teflon coating on the spiral, Allen reduced the friction between cork and spiral so significantly the self-pulling action became nearly effortless. His new corkscrew model was soon recognized as the most effective device to date for taking out a cork.
This idea has been perfected with the Metrokane corkscrew. It has the a levered corkscrew with a non-stick coating on the spiral. Metrokane cork screws, actually come in many models, colors and finishes and make the perfect addition to your kitchen gadget arsenal. Please stop by my blog for more information and bargains on Metrokane corkscrews.
Before buying anything online, be sure you check out the objective customer reviews of the Metrokane Corkscrew Outlet.