Pinzon Wine Openers Category:

Pinzon Penguin Wine Opener Gift Set

by Nick on March 11, 2011

A Plastic wine opener, something I have never considered to be worth anything, but this may be something to change my perception, or even make it worst, let us delve a little deeper into the Pinzon Penguin Wine Opener Gift Set, first of all on Amazon its name states “Gift Set” well I is it really something you can give off as a gift without feeling like a awfully stingy individual, well you may give this off to those who are just sprouts in the wine business, they probably won’t realize what it’s worth.

Pinzon Penguin Wine Opener Gift Set

Pinzon Penguin Wine Opener Gift Set

The feel is simply…how should I put it to be simpler? Well plastic seems to be self explanatory, it lacks the durable feel that metal has, well the worm is metal and I am entirely grateful for that, but every time I lay hands on this I feel like I am exerting a little too much force, that is may break at any minute.

On Amazon, it has a manual on how to use this Pinzon Penguin Wine Opener, well that was something quite useful I would have to say, as this is unlike any other openers, it is something of a wing corkscrew, it shares the same mechanics, it has a lock at the bottom that keeps it from pushing itself away from the bottle while inserting the worm, after locking it just pull the lever down and up again, depending of the bottle you may hear a faint pop if you do it too quickly(or your lever may break, whichever comes first), pull it off and lower the handle again, this lets the cork out, well in theory it does, but it only works about 70% of the time, and the other 30% leaves you with a jammed cork in the wine opener.

I do like the wine stopper and foil cutter, these are probably the only things I will keep even after the Penguin breaks, I frequent the wine stopper when you don’t plan to finish an entire bottle and keep it for a few more days, just for those times when the corks are unusable, it’s wise to seal the bottle right after serving, especially when you only have a few guests, this prevents wastage and loss of valuable flavors and aromas. The foil cutter is rather simple, just place it on top squeeze the black parts and twist, foil away.

This Pinzon Penguin Wine Opener is a joke, a novelty to say the least, the stopper and cutter are the only valuable things, but don’t take me seriously as I am someone who prefers using some elbow grease over anything, well it would be suited for those who aren’t interested in putting some backbone into drawing out a cork, but remember to be gentle as it breaks easily.

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Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew and Foil Cutter Set

by Nick on March 9, 2011

A fancy looking chrome plated wine opener, this Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew incorporates the butterfly mechanics, but only half, I usually refer to these types of openers as broken butterflies, these type of openers do look great, and if made correctly will work extremely well, especially when they are made of metal, and this one from Pinzon is chrome plated, it is well suited as a gift, unlike the other plastic one.

Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew

Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew

Using this is fairly simple, first remove the foil with the ever present foil cutter, all you have to do is fit it around the neck of the bottle, give it a little squeeze and twist it around, before you know it, the foil is off.

Now for the opener, just grip the clamps on the bottle and with a slight raise of the lever it bores the worm, but not just any worm I may add, this worm is coated with Teflon, that’s the things you usually find on non stick pans, this means your worm is never going to rust, unless you scratch off this coating, so after you have lifted the lever to its maximum angle you just push it back down, and the cork has been extracted.

A few users on Amazon complained that they had to twist the cork off the worm with their own fingers, now I don’t want to seem like a terrible individual who loves to ridicule other users but seriously removing cork from the opener is exactly the same as removing it from the bottle, only difference is you raise the lever all the way and grip the cork with the clamps, and lower the lever, simple as that.

However there comes one really bad downside for this Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew, the worm is somewhat a fragile bit to the opener, now you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the strongest things on wine openers should be the connection between the body and the worm, and also the spirals, but it seems that the spirals do not last as long as the ones on larger worms, but don’t be too worried as it comes with a replacement worm.

Also the entire body feels very flimsy, although it’s metal and chrome plated, if you shake It around you can hear it rattle just like a wind chime, these loose ends are a definite signal that it won’t last long.

I would recommend this Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew to those who won’t be using it often, but for those looking in long term reliability its best to bet on a sommeliers knife.

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