Do you love, I mean really love, your corkscrew?
More From: Curious Facts & Fun
Posted December 4th, 2008 by Michael Kane
About ten years ago my wife was given a Pulltap’s waiter’s friend corkscrew by an old college friend who’d just started with one of the big drinks companies in Dublin.
For the uninitiated, the waiter’s friend is so-called because it is, definitively, the choice of professional waiters – (a) because they’re small and fit in a waistcoat watch-pocket, and (b) because they are just so fantastically reliable.
As a typical product of cash-rich, materialistic Ireland in the last ten years, I’ve been a nightmare to buy presents for. As a result, when it comes to Christmas and birthdays I’ve tended to receive either stripy shirts, or something related to wine on the basis that I tended to drink a lot of it.
I am thereby extremely well qualified in what makes a good corkscrew. I’ve been given lever-pull, wall-mounted, spring-loaded, battery-operated, slow-pull, fast-pull, easy-pull and clean-and-jerk; some quite simple, some ridiculously elaborate, many works of art in their aesthetics.
Ten years on I use, exclusively, the Pulltap’s given to my wife. We still have it, and it’s survived countless imitations and attempts to de-throne it from my wine rack, not to mention a thousand corks and counting.
It’s incredibly simple to use. The worm (that’s the curly screw bit) is Teflon-coated, the arms and levers solid stainless steel, and the hinge, I don’t know, I’m guessing some NASA-derived titanium alloy that just won’t break no matter how stubborn a well-wedged cork.
And it just works. It’s never split a cork, and it’s never failed to pull (how many of us can claim that?). It fits in any pocket for going on a picnic, and slips discretely in any hand-luggage for a weekend break and the obligatory aperitif in the hotel-room before we head out.
I always swore that if I ever started a wine business, I’d hunt-down that corkscrew as a new customer welcome gift, and I did.
The only problem is that our first tasting event featured 12 screwcaps – now ain’t that one for Alanis Morissette.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
they are the “mutts Nutts” as regards Corkscrews !
I got one at wine australia tasting about 5 years ago and it is still perfect ! Not even a mark on it !
December 4th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Bit sad that we get excited about corkscrews but they are the puppy’s privates indeed!
December 5th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Michael,
I wish you and all your staff the best with this great web site and even better Wines.
Dont BYPASS this or you might need one.
John D Sullivan
December 29th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Brilliant corkscrew.
My sister threw my old one in the bin “by accident” in the summer, I had it since I was 13 and had a summer job in a vineyard in Bordeaux (don’t ask)
Was delighted with this one… so perfect, opens neatly and like a dream. only question, do I leave it with my mom or bring it home with me?
December 30th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Again, isn’t it amazing how emotive people can become about a simple corkscrew! It makes me warm inside this feedback
Drop me a mail with your address Elf and I’ll send you another one so you don’t have to rob your Mom!
March 11th, 2009 at 2:27 am
Just cruising the web looking for another Pulltap’s corkscrew when I stumbled across this site and wanted to throw my two cent’s in. It’s the best opener one can imagine. I can’t stop talking about it when we go visit and they struggle to open the wine with a $195.00 opener. I pull out my opener, slide the cork out and then give them the opener. Friends for life! Plain and simple, It works!
March 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Think we should all start a Pulltaps fan club! Thanks for your comments Scott
August 28th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
[...] will be well aware of our love of the humble but splendid Pulltap’s corkscrew. I wrote an ode to the Pulltap’s in December last, praising it’s strength, reliability and most of all it’s [...]