Corkpullers - Killing Time in the Dead of Winter

January 23, 2025.  Since early January, we have been relatively house-bound due to viruses we ping-ponged between us and due to a long stretch of stubborn Siberian weather that we have been unable to evict for weeks, like a bad renter. 

When we looked for some new wineries to visit, we found a number of them closed until Spring. 

As a measure of our house-boundedness, here’s a little survey about one of the most essential but humble tools in the enjoyment of wine – the cork puller.

I am not a helixophile, but I have amassed a small collection of corkpullers over time – they are descendants of a proud history of necessity in and of themselves. 

Almost as soon as cider or wine or spirits began being stored in bottles and sealed with cork, generally in the 17^th Century, there was a need for an effective cork extractor.  The earliest corkpullers were adapted from gun worms that were used to clean unspent gunpowder from artillery and muzzleloaders.  Early corkpullers, like the gun worm, had an open helix that was employed to drive through the cork.  From that point, extraction became a matter of brute strength and each innovation aimed at making the pull easier..

The first patent for a corkscrew went to the Reverend Samuel Henshall in 1795.  The good Reverend attached a shank to the helix to prevent the screw from going too deeply.  This was called the Henshall Button Corkscrew.  Below is a latter-day example.

 

Probably the most widely-used corkpuller was the one patented in 1883 by German civil engineer Carl Wienke.  I call this tool “The Waiter’s Friend” as it is standard equipment for almost any waiter in any quality restaurant.  A little knife cuts the foil of the capsule; the corkscrew is wound through the cork.  A lever on the tool connects to the lip of the bottle and allows a little upward force to dislodge the cork.  Archimedes could have said: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall open a bottle of wine.” 

 

I bought this 1-lever tool in Budapest.  Some Waiter’s Friend tools have two levers, reducing the total force needed yet again.  For some reason the French two-lever tools require you to push a button to activate while the American ones, sensibly, do not.  Two-lever Waiter’s Friend tools are the ones I always pack in my winery “to-go” bag. 

Like many kitchens in America, ours is equipped with a winged corkscrew.  This was patented in 1880 by William Baker in England, and first patented in the United State in 1928 by Domenico Rosasti, a bartender in Chicago.  The screw is linked to two handles by a rack and pinion mechanism,  As the screw is twisted down through the cork, the side handles rise up.  Push down on the handles and the cork comes out.  The French sometimes call this tool “the De Gaulle” for obvious reasons…

 

Another version of the rack and pinion mechanism is my rabbit corkscrew.  It clamps onto the neck of a wine bottle and, again, using a rack and pinion mechanism inserts the screw through the cork.  While the whole tool has the pleasant heft of a loaded pistol, they are clunky and inelegant to me.  Sort of a Hummer of a corkpuller.

 

Last of the corkscrew tools is from 1979, Herbert Allen’s “Screwpull.”  By twisting a teflon-coated helix, the cork is made to “climb” up the screw until it is out.  Little pulling is needed. 

 

There are electric-battery operated corkscrews for the real lazy drinker.  This one was a Christmas present several years ago from my dear brother.

 

The last two cork pullers don’t rely on a helix corkscrew at all. 

The first is the “Ah-So,” patented in 1879.  It has two metal prongs that are inserted between the cork and the bottle on both sides.  Using an upward twisting motion, the cork comes out.  The cork will have no telltale screw holes and could even be inserted back into the bottle.  This re-bottling is one reason this tool is sometimes called ‘The Butler’s Friend,” in honor of those butlers who “sampled” their master’s wine while the master was riding hounds, or some such.  The Ah So was designed to handle older disintegrating corks and you might see a sommelier using one to open an old or valuable bottle.

 

Last innovation is the air pump cork extractor; I say extractor because there is no pulling involved.  We saw this at a wine tasting in Rappahannock last year and had to have it.  Patented by Helmut Reinbacher in 1991, you insert a thin needle through the cork and then pump air into the ullage, just as you would inflate a ball or tire.  The air pressure pushes the cork out from the inside.  Very high “cool” factor.  Variations on this concept may involve compressed gas delivered from cylinders rather than pumped air.

 

I suspect that as long as cork is used to seal wine bottles, someone will be inventing new and, one hopes, better ways to get corks out.  However, increasingly the market for these inventions will be limited by wine in screw top bottles and wine in bags with dispensers. 

Still, there is nothing like the flourish and pop of a cork delivered by a corkpuller.