Wine is a curious drink. It’s one of the few beverages sealed with a cork. Of course, there are now many bottle closures, from screw caps to bottle caps. However, fine wine bottles are still sealed with a sturdy and sometimes stubborn cork.

Cork is an impermeable, malleable material, the tree bark from cork oaks. Although wine corks became the standard closures for wine, they also created a need — the need for tools to remove them! Here’s where the wine bottle opener comes in.

Everyone, even those not all that interested in wine, has a corkscrew at home, as it has become an essential tool for entertaining guests; however, with so many bottle openers styles out there in the market, it’s hard to choose the right one. Let’s discuss how to find the best wine opener for you. But first Of course, like all wine-related topics, it all starts with a bit of history.

The Evolution of the Wine Opener

Although wine has over seven thousand years of history, bottle stoppers and wine openers were not necessary for the first few thousand years. Wine was produced, stored and shipped in clay vessels until the adoption of wooden barrels.
Even then, wine was shipped in casks and sold in bulk, not bottles, until the 17th century and widely adopted until the early 19th century, when glass bottles gained prevalence. With them came the arrival of the cork as the ultimate closure and the corkscrew.

Metallic, often steel helixes, called worms, were first created for military use, as soldiers used them to clean and clear cannon and rifle barrels. Soon after, the invention was adopted by keen wine, cider and liqueur drinkers to open bottles, which were already sealed with a cork as early as the 17th century.

Reverend Samuel Henshall patented the first corkscrew in 1795 in the UK, nothing but a steel worm with a handle. However, German inventor Carl F.A. Weinke changed the world by creating the “waiter’s friend” in 1882, a portable tool that used a lever to pull out even the sturdiest corks. Improvements to the handy screw pull resulted in myriad wine bottle openers, including recent electric ones.

However, the most significant evolutionary leap in bottle openers came with Greg Lambrecht’s creation of the Coravin system. Why pull out the cork if you can extract the wine with a hollow needle?

What is the best wine opener?

That depends on you, your wine-drinking habits and your preferences. Any wine bottle opener will do the trick if you want to pull the cork out of a bottle. As for how to use a wine opener, it depends on your tools of choice. Even electric bottle openers are useful for those who want to easily remove the cork.

Although most wine bottle openers will do the trick, they’re not all the same. Suppose you want to pour yourself a glass of wine from your collection — most of the time, you’ll have to commit to the entire bottle. Well, wine is more perishable than we think. So, how do you pour yourself or your guests a wine sample or a glass of wine without exposing the entire bottle to oxygen and microorganisms? The answer is with Coravin.

What is a Coravin?

Coravin’s contribution to the world of wine is a tool to extract wine from a bottle while preserving the rest using argon, a natural wine preserver that protects wine from oxidation. Yes, wine is delicate. At the same time, a Coravin system gives versatility to wine drinkers, allowing them to pour as much wine as they want without committing to the entire bottle.

How does this all work? Coravin Timeless systems insert a hollow needle through the cork, extracting wine while replacing it with argon gas in a swift movement. The cork reseals itself naturally, leaving the bottle and its contents untouched.

Here are three cases in which Coravin excels, surpassing traditional wine bottle openers and making tasting and pouring wine more affordable and exciting.

The Best Wine Opener for Wine Tastings

If you are to pour more than one wine, you want to make the most out of it. Wine tasting, after all, is all about comparing wine styles produced in different regions, with distinct grapes and from diverse producers. Sometimes, tasting the exact wine from different vintages can be an extraordinary learning experience.

The problem is that opening more bottles than you and your guests can handle results in leftover wine. The Coravin system allows you to pour as much wine as needed while preserving the rest for future wine tastings or sessions.
Assemble vertical and horizontal wine tastings with confidence, knowing that no drop of wine will go to waste. Pour a couple of ounces of dozens of wines in a single session and learn about the complexities of the wine world faster and more efficiently. Learn more about the life expectancy of your bottles here.

The Best Wine Opener for Restaurants

Most, if not all, fine dining restaurants have a well-established wine program. Even casual and family restaurants offer wine, and it’s easy to see why. Wine improves the dining experience. At the same time, it increases the venue’s revenue.

Along with a wine selection, most restaurants offer wine by the glass. However, unless the establishment has a wine-focused clientèle, some wine goes to waste every night. Once you open a bottle, you better sell it or risk throwing it away. This means that restaurateurs will rarely commit to offering fine wine by the glass. No one wants to throw away expensive wine!

A Coravin system offers a solution. Servers and sommeliers can offer more complex and expensive wines by the glass and pour them without compromising the integrity of the entire bottle. Some restaurants using Coravin wine systems will often offer their entire wine selection by the glass, capitalizing on their wine-loving patrons’ never-ending thirst and curiosity.

The Best Wine Opener for Collectors

Collecting wine is not only fun but also profitable. Like fine art, fine wine increases in value, and rare bottles are as coveted as the rarest art pieces. Collecting wine can also be a way to treat yourself and your loved ones to exclusive bottles when the occasion arises; however, once you open a bottle, it’s gone forever.

Coravin systems allow amateur and professional collectors to sample the wine in their wine cellars as it ages, allowing them to choose the right time to open it. A Coravin allows wine enthusiasts to pour themselves and their guests a glass of any wine without committing to the entire bottle.

Coravin’s Timeless preservation system is the best wine opener for those interested in preserving wine, resulting in a collection you can taste whenever you want while keeping its integrity. That changes everything.

Any tool that allows you to pour that precious liquid highly guarded by a cork is a good wine opener. However, not all openers are created equal. Although there’s no doubt that having a variety of wine bottle openers is essential, a Coravin wine system offers an opportunity like no other tool — to pour wine without opening the bottle.

Collectors and wine lovers can now pour a single glass, a single ounce of their favorite wines, without risking spoilage or affecting the wine’s evolution.

For home or business, a Coravin wine system is an essential tool. What’s the best bottle opener for you? Learn more about Coravin's systems here.