6 Best Wine Openers and Preservers, Tested by Food Network Kitchen
We tested nearly two dozen wine openers to find the best ones for every kind of wine drinker.
Photo by Stevie Stewart
Our Top Wine Opener Picks
- Best Manual: Rabbit 2-Step Waiter’s
- Best Lever: OXO Steel Vertical Lever Corkscrew with Removable Foil Cutter
- Best Electric: Cuisinart Electric Wine Opener
- Best Sparkling Wine Preserver: Coravin Sparkling
- Best Wine Preserver: Coravin Pivot
- Best Wine Preserver for Natural Corks: Coravin Timeless Three+
Tested by Stevie Stewart for Food Network Kitchen
The days of one-style manual bottle openers are long gone. Nowadays, you can find all kinds of styles that vary in ways such as size, price and function. If you are a person without much space, perhaps a classic manual opener is for you. Do you sometimes just want a glass of wine but want to save the rest for a later time? Then a preserver would be the choice for you. For someone with some arthritis, an electric opener would do the work of opening a bottle for them. There are so many different styles out there these days, it would be easy to find one that suits your needs. We tested nearly two dozen wine openers and preservers to find the best ones for all kinds of wine drinkers.
Photo by Stevie Stewart
How We Tested
We purchased two cases of wine so that we could test the openers multiple times. We noted the sharpness of the foil cutters and how easily they worked. We observed how easily the tools removed the corks, if the corks broke, and if the corkscrews were centered when they punctured the corks. For the wine preservers, we opened a bottle of wine, tasted it, sealed it and let it sit in the refrigerator for one week. We then re-tasted the wine to see if there were any changes in flavor. We sealed another time and let the wine sit for another week and then tested again to see if there were any changes in taste. We took into consideration the size, weight, design and price when making our final choices.
- Very affordable
- Simple design
- Can be challenging for beginners
Despite all the innovations, there is something to be said about the classic ‘waiter’s’ corkscrew. With a simple, effective design that has worked for ages, this style is a straightforward tool that gets the job done. Our favorite of this style we tested was the Rabbit 2-Step Waiter’s. It has a nice, balanced weight and is equipped with a foil cutter. It is a great option for those with small spaces or to put in your pocket and bring along to a picnic or beach outing.
- Easy for beginners
- Very ergonomic
- Can be confusing on first-use
This model was our personal favorite overall because of how smoothly and easily it opened bottles of wine. With just a simple down and up motion of the lever, it cleanly, quickly and quietly opens a bottle of wine. We also appreciated the design, as the handle is non-stick and there is a foil cutter that is integrated into the opener. It is larger than a ‘waiter’s’ opener, but it is still a very approachable size that is not much larger than your hand.
- Easy to use
- Good for arthritic hands
- Needs time to charge
More and more wine companies are using synthetic corks to seal their bottles. Unfortunately, some of these corks fit so snuggly that they can be difficult to remove and require more hand and arm strength. An electric opener can take away the difficulty of opening bottles and does the work for you. We loved the Cuisinart brand electric opener. Even when it is plugged in on the charger, it is compact and does not take up a lot of space. It is so simple to use with just 2 buttons - ‘down’ to take the cork out of the bottle and ‘up’ to remove the cork from the corkscrew. It was effortless and simple to use. Despite the need to charge the opener, it charges quickly and 1 full charge can open 50 bottles of wine. It is also priced reasonably and would be a great gift.
- Simple design
- More affordable preserver
- Not compatible with sparkling wine
We loved the Coravin Timeless Three+ but the only drawback was that it is only meant to be used with natural cork. The Corovan Pivot, on the other hand, can be used with all corks as it comes with its own stoppers. When you open a bottle of wine, you replace the cork or top with a Coravin stopper and then insert the Pivot into the stopper, press a button and pour a glass of wine. Press the button again and the wine stops and it is sealed. The Coravin systems come with argon capsules to activate the seal. Each capsule of the Pivot can seal up to 20, 5 oz glasses of wine. The Pivot is small, light and is so easy to use. When we tasted wine after a week and then another week, we did not notice any difference in taste.
- Keeps wine fresh for months
- Easy to use
- Only compatible with natural corks
- Pricey
The Coravin Timeless Three+ is a wonderful product for those enthusiasts looking to preserve their wine. You could have multiple bottles open at once and not have to worry about any of them going bad. The unique design has a needle that is purposely positioned to be off center so each time you pour a glass, the needle punctures the cork in a different place. Once punctured, you pour directly through the spout on the opener. Then simply remove the needle and it is like the bottle was never opened at all.
- Easy to use
- Pricey
- Only compatible with sparkling wine
Usually, when you open a bottle of sparkling wine, that is it. The bottle is opened and you need to finish it. Otherwise, the bubbles will disappear and it will no longer be fizzy and delicious. The Coravin Sparkling wine preserver is a game changer. It is a simple system that preserves the bubbles in the wine so you can enjoy 1 glass at a time, if you wish, or open a bottle one day and drink the rest another. We found it really easy to operate and we were shocked at just how bubbly the wine remained after resealing it - it was just as bubbly as when first opened! This model is on the expensive side, but if you or someone you know is a sparkling wine drinker, this would be a great gift.
FAQs
What Are the Different Types of Corkscrews?
There are so many options on the market these days. They range from the most basic, to those that do more than just open a bottle of wine. Here are some of the most used types of corkscrews:
- Waiter’s/Wine Key: This is one of the most widely used as it is simple and portable. A favorite of restaurants, the waiter’s style wine opener uses a corkscrew that is inserted and screwed into the center of the cork. You then take the hinge and with the curved notch, place it on the lip of the bottle, and use leverage to remove the cork.
- Lever: A lever is a slight step up from the simplicity of the waiter’s opener. While also using leverage, it uses a smaller amount which reduces the effort required to open the bottle and remove the cork.
- Electric: Perfect for a beginner, you just charge the opener, place it on the bottle, press a button and your bottle is opened.
- Winged: A winged opener is an opener that requires a bit more muscle. You use the corkscrew and then press down on both sides of the opener and then twist the opener to extract the cork.
Which Corkscrew Is Best for Beginners?
There are two great options for wine opening beginners. We would suggest either a lever opener that can easily open a bottle without having to align the corkscrew or do any twisting. With a simple 2-step motion, you can open and remove the cork with little effort. Our other choice would be an electric opener which really does all the work for you. Just line up the opener with the top of the wine bottle, press a button and the bottle is opened! No training necessary.
What Should You Do If the Cork Breaks?
One of the best ways to avoid breaking a cork is by using a good corkscrew. This will prevent nearly all chances of breaking a cork. But, perhaps you are dealing with an older wine that’s cork has dried out, or you placed the corkscrew off center, and you break the cork. What do you do when this happens? Well, there are a few options. If the cork isn’t too far down the neck of the bottle, you can simply attempt to use the corkscrew again to remove the cork. If that isn’t an option, you can also try running the neck of the bottle under hot running water. This can make the glass expand and therefore loosen the cork enough to extract it. Lastly, if all else fails, you can simply push the broken cork into the bottle and then decant the wine to make sure there are no cork bits floating around.
Do You Need a Wine Preserver?
A wine preserver is a tool that helps to preserve wine. It increases the shelf/fridge life by slowing the process of oxidation. A wine preserver removes some of the oxygen to prevent the wine from spoiling. The oxygen is either replaced with a gas, removed with suction or the bottle is sealed to prevent the oxygen from coming into contact with the wine. Wine preservers can be pricey and are often used at restaurants for more expensive bottles of wine. However, they can be good for those who don’t drink wine often and want to save the bottle for another occasion, or collectors who have nicer bottles they don’t want to waste.
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