The Best Wine Openers: Pro Corkscrew Picks of 2024
Updated: Feb. 01, 2024
Time to grab your favorite bottle of rosé. Our experts found the best wine opener options on the market, including the best electric wine opener and best winged corkscrew.
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Which Wine Opener Is the Best?
Many of us love a good glass of wine with dinner or while unwinding at home. But sometimes it can be a struggle to uncork that bottle of rosé during book club. With the best wine opener, though, this task becomes quick and easy.
Don’t have a reliable corkscrew at home? Let our Test Kitchen help you. Our team made it their mission to find wine opener options that allow you to uncork your favorite vintage or nonalcoholic wine without any fuss.
How We Tested Wine Openers
Using a fussy or complicated corkscrew should really top our list of wine mistakes. So for this product test, our team did some serious research. There are many types of wine openers out there ranging from pocket-sized models to electric corkscrews—and we tested them all.
In total, our team tried 11 wine openers and judged each according to these categories:
- Performance: A good wine opener should be easy to use and should open a bottle without much effort. In addition to uncorking wine, these gadgets should also be able to strip away foil cleanly.
- Size and appearance: Openers vary widely. Our team made it their mission to find options that are worth the drawer space and look good sitting out during a dinner party.
- Price: As with all our gadget picks, our team makes sure that the items we recommend are worth the money.
So which corkscrew should you add to your bar cart? Check out our pros’ favorite picks below.
Best Electric Wine Opener
Rabbit Electric Corkscrew
Electric corkscrews make cracking open a bottle of chardonnay or merlot incredibly simple. In seconds, the Rabbit Electric Corkscrew gets your bottle ready to pour.
“It truly doesn’t get any easier than this,” says the leader of the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, Sarah Farmer. To use this Rabbit model, use the included foil cutter to remove any wrappers. Then set the wine opener atop the bottle and it does the work automatically. Once you remove the Rabbit, it spits out the cork, and you’re ready to pour.
And you can keep pouring party after party. A single charge gives this gadget enough power to open about 30 bottles of wine. When it runs out of juice, just use the included USB cord to charge it back up.
Believe it or not, there are no buttons or switches to hit on this gadget; it does it all automatically. This makes the Rabbit corkscrew incredibly convenient and a great option for folks that have a difficult time using or gripping traditional wine openers.
Pros
- Completely fuss-free
- Foil cutter slices wrappers cleanly
Cons
- This model isn’t as compact as non-powered corkscrews
- It does need to be charged on occasion
Price: $60
Best Winged Corkscrew
Beautiful Winged Corkscrew
Winged wine openers give you a goof-proof way to uncork a bottle from your latest wine club subscription. Of these types of wine openers, the Beautiful Winged Corkscrew is our Test Kitchen’s favorite.
This style of corkscrew is familiar to most, but if you’ve never used one know that all you have to do is fit the worm (that’s the spiral part of the wine opener) over the exposed cork. Then twist until it’s punctured the cork most of the way through. Finally, pull the two arms down and the cork will pull straight out.
While the functionality from winged corkscrew to winged corkscrew is the same, the Beautiful model made a positive impression on the Test Kitchen. “The ergonomic handle really allows you to get a good grip as you rotate the worm through the cork,” Sarah says. A secure grip allows you to operate this wine opener deftly.
What also impressed the team was the price tag. This Beautiful corkscrew costs just $10. That leaves you a little extra money to splash out on elegant stemware or a good bottle of red.
Pros
- Incredibly affordable
- Compact
- Comfortable
- Simple to use
Cons
- Not as luxe as other models
Price: $10
Best Waiter’s Corkscrew
French Home Laguiole Corkscrew
Waiter’s corkscrews (sometimes called waiter’s friends) are the perfect size for stashing in a drawer with your other bar tools or tossing in a picnic basket. This style of wine opener is very popular, and none perform as well as the French Home Laguiole Corkscrew if you ask our pros.
This beautiful stainless steel corkscrew may be small but it does the job well. If you opt for a bottle with a wax or foil wrapper, this Laguiole corkscrew makes quick work of it. “The serrated teeth of the cutting blade grips and strips the foil away easily,” explains Sarah.
After removing that extra bit of packaging, just twist the corkscrew right into the cork and use the sturdy hinged lever to pry it out. You may find that this technique takes a bottle or two to get used to, but once you’ve mastered it, you’ll be enjoying that sauvignon blanc in no time.
This particular corkscrew comes as a set with a bottle opener. “It’s very giftable,” says Sarah. “Pair it with a bottle of red or white and you’ve got a great hostess gift!”
Pros
- Compact
- Effective foil cutter
- Beautiful
Cons
- Takes a little practice to use
Price: $39
Best Lever Wine Opener
Le Creuset Compact Wine Lever
For those more comfortable using a lever-style corkscrew, know that you won’t be disappointed by the Le Creuset Compact Wine Lever.
That’s right: Le Creuset, the brand we know and love for its vividly colored cookware, also makes “a winner of a wine opener,” according to Sarah.
To use this wine lever, use one hand to hug the bottle with the arms of the opener. With your other hand pull the lever over the top of the bottle and back again. “Boom! Just like that the cork is out in seconds,” Sarah rejoices. There’s no twisting or screwing—just a simple up-and-over motion.
“I found this model to be very intuitive, as any wine opener should be,” says Sarah. “The motion used to remove the cork is fluid, simple and very effective.”
While this corkscrew is on the pricey side, Sarah explains that performance is worth it for those that take their vino more seriously.
Pros
- Speedy
- Intuitive
- 10-year warranty
Cons
- High price tag
Price: $110
Check Out More Test Kitchen-Preferred Products
Our Test Kitchen is constantly testing kitchen gadgets, cleaning gear and delicious food, looking for brands that deserve the right to be called Test-Kitchen Preferred.
If you’re looking to outfit your kitchen with a few new items, be sure to check out these tests:
Originally Published: March 31, 2023
