Wine Openers Reviews

When it comes to testing corkscrews and wine openers, three review sources do the best work. Recognizing that pretty much any model can remove a cork, editors focus on ease of use and efficiency. Good Housekeeping has the most comprehensive coverage, testing 24 corkscrews from budget brands to "ultimate investments." In 2006, Cook's Illustrated field-tested 13 lever wine openers and then updated the report in 2007. Choice magazine, an Australian review publication similar to Consumer Reports, tests 16 budget corkscrews and wine-bottle openers. Consumer Reports reviewed 19 wine openers back in 2002 (with an update in 2005), and though the magazine has some great information on the different types, details on the best wine openers are sparse.

Although it's hard to find much of a consensus on the best wine openers and corkscrews, we compared results at these professional review websites with owner reviews posted to Amazon.com, Epinions and other sites. While many of the individual write-ups are insightful, we also noticed a fair bit of fluff on these sites -- where reviews are so uniform that they appear to have been planted. The better owner-written wine-opener ratings are balanced, citing pros as well as cons, with comparisons to other wine-bottle openers.

Pump wine openers aren't favored

There are many different types of corkscrews on the market (discussed further in this report), but we found only one reviewer that enthusiastically recommends air-pump cork extractors. This type of pump wine opener uses a propellant to blast gas through the cork and into the bottle. The increased pressure forces the cork out. While some reviewers like the novelty of pump wine openers, others point out that they aren't that efficient. For example, it can take between 10 and 50 pumps to pop a cork with the Corkette Cork Extractor (*est. $20). Other reviewers note that because of the force with which the cork can pop out, you won't want to use a pump wine opener around kids or pets, and experts caution that air-pump models should not be used with sparkling wines, odd-shaped bottles, damaged bottles or partly full bottles.

We found only one professional review for an electric wine-bottle opener at TheVineTimes, where the Oster Inspire (*est. $20) is rated as excellent, but not compared to any others. The majority of user reviews are also positive for this electric wine opener, although we did read some reports that the batteries can die in mid-uncorking, and we read some owner comments about a flimsy foil cutter. None of the best reviewers included an electric wine opener in their tests.

While auger-type corkscrews (which use a metal spiral worm) are generally simple to use and inexpensive, experts say you should avoid those in which the metal spiral completes itself with a point in the center of the turning radius. Although it's harder to calculate where to begin with a corkscrew that has an off-center tip, an off-center starting point allows the rest of the spiral to follow the tip through the cork. A spiral worm that ends with the tip at dead center means you are coring the center of the cork and the spiral worm is perforating around that. You are essentially drilling out the center of the cork, greatly increasing the chance it will tear when you try to pull it out.

Rather than air-pump or electric wine openers, reviewers consistently recommend lever wine openers. The Le Creuset Screwpull Lever Model Elegance (*est. $130) gets the best reviews, but we also found favorable coverage of the Vacu Vin Winemaster Corkscrew and Foil Cutter (*est. $50) , another lever wine opener that's far less expensive than the Screwpull Elegance.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

We found the best reviews for lever-style wine openers, including the luxury Screwpull Elegance and the budget Vacu Vin Winemaster. Experts say both are easier to use than other types, which generally require more twisting and pulling. Among budget corkscrews, we found good reviews for the OXO Good Grips CorkPull, which requires twisting but not pulling.