There are hundreds of gadgets for the wine afficianado, but a cheap - and absolutely necessary gadget (in my opinion) - is the cork retriever. The gadget on the left in the picture, it may also be referred to as a cork extractor, a twin prong cork puller, the "butler's friend", or the "Ah-So".Normally used to rescue an ancient, decrepit cork from a very old bottle (usually quite successfully), tonight this gadget ably removed a modern, plastic cork from a cheap Spanish wine after the waiter's corkscrew (right) and the basic (centre) corkscrew both failed me.
Looking for Holiday gifts? Give your favourite wine fanatic a cheap, thoughtful gift that will save them once a year - Ah so!
PS - Using one of these take some practice. Try it out on a few cheap bottles before you try to rescue the cork from that 1945 Chateau Latour...
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4 comments:
Joe,
It's one of my favourite implements as well. . . I also bought a huge 1000ml chemistry beaker (2 bottles high and very narrow and very impractical) to use as a decanter. I'm sure I'll break it the very first time I ever use it!
Essential...and I thought I was the only one to own one....
yes, an essential tool. the one I use is similar to the one you have pictured on the right.
Ed, Barry, David: I never see these at my wino friends' places, so I thought I was the only one - I should have known my fellow bloggers were equally nerdy! As for the beaker, you have one-upped the rest of us on the nerdiness scale. I will confess that I was looking for one of those - a chemistry professor friend offered a used one, but I respectfully declined the offer...
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