In the past, I had always used a traditional corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. Now, I use nothing but a wine key or waiter’s corkscrew.
A traditional corkscrew has two arms that lift and a top pull that twists. A wine key, sometimes called a waiter’s corkscrew, has a small knife for cutting the foil capsule that covers the cork and uses a metal fulcrum positioned on the lip of the bottle to create leverage to lift the cork up and out.
A double-hinged waiter’s corkscrew allows you to pull the cork in two steps because it has a double lever system.
Using one may at first seem complex but it’s actually quite simple.
Place the tip of the screw or “worm” at the center of the cork
Press down lightly as you twist the corkscrew down into the cork
Keep turning until just one loop of the corkscrew is left above the cork
Bend the hinge so that the curved notch sits on the lip of the bottle
Hold the notch against the bottle lip for leverage with one hand and pull the corkscrew up with the other hand
Then, switch to the second notch and continue pulling the cork out of the bottle (bottom photos)
Once the cork is out of the bottle, twist the cork off the worm by hand
It may take some practice to use the waiter’s style corkscrew but once you get the knack, you’ll never go back to what you were previously using. Cheers!