I think we all have a friend or relative who just can't seem to open a bottle of wine no matter what kind of opener you give them. Personally, I think that a hinged waiter's corkscrew is about the easiest corkscrew out there, but wine gadgets can be a lot of fun, too. Several years ago we received a Rabbit corkscrew as a gift, and I occasionally pull it out just because it really does make light work of removing a cork that might really be stuck in a bottle.

In keeping with the animal-name theme, the other day I saw an announcement for a new corkscrew called the
Penguin EZ Pull Corkscrew. It utilizing a patented cylinder-and-lever system. It seems simple enough to use: just remove the foil from the wine bottle, place the unit over the top of the bottle, then pull the lever down and back up to remove the cork. The Teflon-coated, magnesium corkscrew 'worm' is automatically inserted into the cork while pulling the handle down, then easily removes the cork from the bottle.

According to the product literature, this corkscrew works on synthetic corks as well as natural ones. I was told not to use my Rabbit corkscrew on synthetic corks because after many uses, the synthetic corks will strip the Teflon coating off the worm. I have to assume that problem has been addressed with the penguin corkscrew. One worm should effectively open around 1,000 bottles of wine.

Retail price is around $50.