Customer Reviews:
 Beautiful and practical June 20, 2006
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Not only is this item extremely well made, it actually works - and works fantastic. De-corking takes a matter of seconds and is about as idiot proof as it gets.
I'm not sure what one reviewer was complaining about; how it wasn't working on synthetic corks. Perhaps he doesn't know how to use the opener, but there is absolutely no issue with synthetic corks... I actually think it works better with them than standard cork - corks.
The only complaint, if you can call it that, is that this opener is not exactly a small device, and I wouldn't it expect it to fit into too many utility drawers, but 'hey' I happen to like the way it looks and I keep it displayed on my bar in it's "stand." I just like that fact that it doesn't look or feel cheap and even more so, that it works beautifully.
 Not for use with Synthetic Corks!! June 12, 2006
17 out of 24 found this review helpful
Many wines now use synthetic corks. I recieved the opener and found written on the box "Due to the non-stick coating on the worm screw, CORKSCREW is not designed for use with synthetic corks. This is too limiting for me. I wish this was noted in the description.
Absolutely ingenious! May 19, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have known other fine openers for wine bottles, but this one beats them all. Whether it's cork or synthetic material, it works almost like magic. This holds for removing the cork from the opener as well. What a joy to operate this fine tool. Sorry if I sound a bit too ecxited. But practical items that come so close to to a job the perfect way really get my admiration. The only drawback: this tool is a bit bulky and thus requires more storage room than a "screw-pull" type. But I am amazed every time. And it looks like it is really built to last. It comes with two spare spirals too. And the foil cutter is perfect as well!
I only wonder why I had to wait till I travelled to the US to get this fine wine opener at such a low price.
Added comment August 08, 2008: With a few more years of practical use, I should add one drawback. The perfect function depends on the intact teflon coating of the spiral. Synthetic corks tend to wear that coating off rather quickly. Thus, I now use a conventional model for synthetic "corks". At any rate, that teflon coating wears off after a while. And while it is possible to get replacements, these are relatively expensive. It is absurd if one has to pay as much for two spirals as for the whole set with its two spares.
Forget the cork screw! May 12, 2006
Since I began drinking wine, the biggest problem was the effort spent on getting the cork out of the bottle. With most cork screws, unless you drill it in so far as to go through the cork, and in the process getting little bits of cork in your wine, the cork will not come out of the bottle without a little extra twisting and pulling which, when drinking red wine, could have a negative effect of your clothing if spilled. Looking around in some specialty stores for "the best" wine opener, I came across one in "Williams & Sonoma" which cost $129.00. There was no way in the world I was going to pay that kind of money for a wine opener. I spotted the MIU France Zinc Alloy Wine Opener on Amazon.com which looked similar in principal to the one I had seen in the store and decided to order one. This is the best twenty dollars I ever spent. Matter of fact, I have purchased three more since then. Two as gifts and one for a sister-in-law who asked me to order one for her husband for Fathers day after she saw it in action. It is so easy to operate, my 9yr old could open a bottle of wine with it. There is no pamplet in the box giving instructions on how to use it but they give you step by step pictures on the outside of the box to show you. Included inside is a foil cutter (which I just found out how to use) and extra screws in case one breaks. It works with synthetic corks as well.
So Easy:
Just clamp the two handles around the bottle, pull the lever forward - which drills the screw in, pull the lever back, and the cork comes right out with NO addition twisting and pulling. To get the cork off the screw, repeat the process.
I highly recommend this wine opener!
works easily at all stages May 10, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A very easy to use corkscrew. Handles corks and those plastic corks easily. The rabbit corkscrew is nice too, but this beats the rabbit in ease of insertion, extraction, and then extraction of the cork off the corkscrew, by at least two to one. This is very important as my wife can't use a rabbit anymore, it requires too much arm strength. This one is a snap. It's also much easier than the simpler two handed corkscrew that looks like a, how do I describe it, like a jumping jack exercise when both handles go up at the same time, you know what I mean I hope, when you crank in the screw and the dual handles go up, then you pull down on the handles to remove the cork. Instead of the jumping jack one, use this one, it's a lot easier at ALL stages--insertion, extraction, cork removal from the tool. Plus I've never yet jammed a cork into the bottle, which these other tools occasionally do--oh, one can survive from that, the point is that this corkscrew does it right, and easily, from all aspects. It's built sturdily too, so it will likely last longer (better built, and also gets less stress from the user as all aspects of its operation are easier) than the others. To explain, if you use a tool and have to yank on it a lot, you know that the stress you put on it in use is not going to have it last as long as a tool that works with just a little bit of effort. This corkscrew is really good. It almost makes you want to use it too much.
|
