We’re running toward the Holidays and rounding the corner toward Thanksgiving. Wow! Where does the time go? Fortunately, this time of year brings to mind one of my favorite subjects; Wine! The fantastic foods and treats that we enjoy through this season are much enhanced by the addition of good wine. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It just has to be the one that you like with what you are serving. In the next couple of days I’ll be posting some pairings and suggestions for wines and wine related products to try to help with making the holiday season a most memorable one.Today let’s look at wine openers. Boy, can this be a pin in the neck! The litte curly, pig-tail looking thing on you pocket knife will get the bottle open eventually, but you might have to deal with split corks, cork in the wine and the cork may not come out at all. So, what is the best? Well, everyone has their own opinion, of course. Let me rell you what I have found to be the winning combination.
First, I would suggest that you acquire a Sommelier’s tool. This is a tried and true device that works on just about anything. It’s about the size of a pocket knife and actually has a bit of a blade to assist in removing the foil from the bottleneck. On the other end is a swing out clasp that grips the rim of the bottleneck, allowing a levered pull of the cork on a virtually straight line (most important to keep the cork intact.) This does take some muscle, but it is very dependable, as long as you are careful to start the corkscrew in the center of the cork.
As my primary corkscrew, I use an Oster 4027 Cordless Wine Bottle Opener that my daughter gave me two Christmases ago. It looks a bit weird (much like a D Cell Flashlight), but man does it ever work well. So far, I have not lost so much as a grain of cork. I used this as my primary opener and take it with me to do tastings and pairings for Global Wines South Texas. The estimate of 30 bottles on a charge is pretty accurate.
Great Entertaining and Pura Vida!
