- Design Inspo
12 Wine Bottle Openers for a Full-Bodied Experience
Americans love their wine. During this past year, that usually meant consuming at home. Without the aid of a handy server, the uncorking is left to the one drinking. What appliance to use to unleash the aromatic, vinified grape beverage when pouring it into a glass is a matter of choice. Nest Casa looks at the different wine bottle openers to ensure that each step of enjoying wine is a pleasure.
How to Choose a Wine Bottle Opener That is Right For You
Since how you open your wine can affect the overall experience, looking at the various options is in order. Nest Casa spoke to the bicoastal sommelier and wine client portfolio management advisor David Sawyer to break down the different choices. Sawyer is a purist, preferring a single-hinge, manual style (his favorite is the Code38 P-Type Titanium X style). Still, he concedes that it isn’t for everyone.
“Most people prefer a double hinge that pushes the opener against the glass to loosen cork,” he explains. “If you are losing hand and grip strength, electric openers are great. But they take away from the classic ritual of opening a bottle manually.” Remember: The method used to open a bottle bears no effect on the wine’s taste. But Sawyer further advises that electric styles, which require batteries or chargers, can lose power and aren’t always the most aesthetically pleasing or easy to store.
Best Overall Wine Bottle Openers
For the style-conscious connoisseur, this glass dome proudly displays an incredibly chic four-piece set from L’Atelier du Vin, designed to open both sparkling and regular wines. It can also re-cork bottles for savoring any unconsumed product at a later date.
The Model Eleven wine preservation system from Coravin joins the worlds of high-tech and old-world winemaking to guarantee that marquee bottles opened and not finished can survive a re-corking. This state-of-the-art system uses an app to regulate pour speeds as well as provide system checks and cartridge replacement alerts. It is sure to impress curious fellow imbibers.
Make your uncorking an expression of inimitable style. This Le Black Teflon “winged-butterfly” manual corkscrew from L’Atelier du Vin in matte finish will stick by any home sommelier for years to come.
Best Electric Wine Bottle Openers
If a slick, spy-worthy tech tool gets your tastebuds excited, then make the Rabbit Electric Wine Opener your next purchase. Made exclusively for Crate and Barrel and arriving in a classic, matte, navy finish with champagne-toned accents, this one-click device cuts foil, removes corks in a snap, and activates a flavor saver—all while proving that wine bottle tasks are not a mission impossible!
Even if the French seem to have, for centuries, cornered the market on wine consumption, it doesn’t mean that they are immune to breaking tradition to uncork a bottle. Enter Peugeot (yes, that Peugeot) to apply their innovative car designs and construction to the Elis wine bottle opener. In a smooth beechwood finish, the instrument’s one-click mechanism both opens and re-corks bottles while using a USB to recharge.
If the mechanics of the above are your speed, but a sleek, futuristic model is more your style, then Peugeot’s Elis stainless steel version should be your go-to. The built-in charger contains a rechargeable battery so that it can be on the ready whenever wine time beckons.
Best Manual Wine Bottle Openers
For manual wine bottle openers, the bells and whistles can sometimes come in the form of design. This is true of Roberto Cavalli’s jeweled corkscrew. Here, the fanfare is delivered via a gold-toned finish—not to mention the enamel and Swarovski crystal–covered snake slinking up the side of the opener. Warning: The tactile pleasure of using this tool may cause many bottle openings at once.
L’Atelier du Vin’s Oeno Wine Pull may be manual, but its easy, gliding motion feels mechanical and effortless for the user. More so, it’s ergonomically appealing with a black matte finish, wood handle, and “rabbit” silhouette design.
Like the shiny chrome on an Italian race car, the finish on Lorenzo Milano’s corkscrew gleans in the light. This sleek, “winged-butterfly,” manual opener recalls detailing on a vintage car as the ebony wood mimics a vehicle’s wood grain interior detailing. Both make for speedy exits (in this case, it’s for the cork).
Best Designed Wine Bottle Openers
The GIOI wine bottle opener set gets to the nuts and bolts of the uncorking act. Literally. Based on standard everyday tools and hardware, this clever titanium collection (including a corkscrew, a stopper, a wine funnel, and a bottle opener) is a must-have for the handyman who does most of his work in the wine cellar.
The true wine collector who considers each bottle a work of art deserves the RBT Tabletop Corkscrew. Allowing the bottle to be opened and displayed, this wood, iron, and brass device leaves a striking impression. Despite its good looks, the design functions maximally. A lever adjusts the “rabbit” corkscrew mechanism for different bottle sizes. The tilted base stabilizes the bottle in place and gives it a great visual angle, too.
The genius behind this aerodynamic steel wine bottle opener from Dunhill is in the cheeky way that, when you remove the pen-style cap, the screw folds down to form the T-shaped, pull-style device. It’s the size of your palm, which makes it easy to stow in a pocket for a party or an al fresco gathering. What a clever and useful secret power!
Best Wine Bottle Accessories
The more the merrier applies both to drinking wine and to wine accessories. These additional tools, wine keepers, carafes, coolers, and glasses can add to the fun of uncorking and make it a ritual. Once the bottle is opened and poured, there is even a book about great American wines to peruse—and inspire future festivities.
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