152

1984: Brother Timothy of the Christian Brothers Winery wrote in the

Book of California

Wine

(University of California Press / Sotheby Publications, 1984):

…Carbon dioxide was the first gas used, then hand

-pumped air, and lastly Freon.

All can work satisfactorily…But I do not care for these things: two types

frequently run out of gas and all three are susceptible to needles bending,

breaking, or falling out of sockets.

1985.

Worldwide News

, No. 3. "Uncorking the Facts: A Guide to Good Screwing" took a

look at eleven different types of cork removers and offered a "guide to good screwing."

Under "The turn of the screw" they wrote:

Let us first look at the air pump…With an atmospheric pressure of 10

atmospheres, which is equivalent to a force of about 25kg - the surface of the

cross-section being 22 sq. - the cork begins to rise and pops out of the bottle

with a convincing bang. The disadvantage here is that the pump has no valve and

tends to leak. Thus the procedure is only successful if you pump fairly fast, which

is a tiring business. The bottle bursting in the process of being uncorked also is

not to be ruled out.

1991. Konrad Ejbich wrote in "Stupid Wine Gifts to Avoid" (

Eye Weekly

, Toronto,

December 5):

The worst gadget I've even seen is a pump-

action cork remover…The problem

is that if a bottle has even a minor production flaw, it may explode. A liquor

company I once worked for was threatened with lawsuits on several occasions

by people who had seriously injured themselves using this stupid gadget on one

of the company's wines. All lawsuits were dismissed because the wine's back

label specifically warned against the use of this device. It is still on sale in "finer"

gift shops and department stores.

2000. From the Wine Spectator On-Line (www.winespectator.com):

I was using a gas pressure corkscrew and sure enough, I pumped and pumped

until I blew the bottle apart. Fortunately, no one was injured but the snow white

carpeting never was quite the same. Corkscrew was immediately deposited in

the garbage. Worse, I was warned about the possibility of this exact thing

happening.

2001. Excerpt from

Choosing a Corkscrew

by Micah D. Halpern (This article and others

can be found in the wine section of www.eluna.com)

Beware: Another popular corkscrew looks like a syringe. You insert the needle

into the cork and pump several strokes until the cork pops out. The concept

works by injecting air between the wine and the cork. When enough air is

present the cork gives way. This corkscrew is dangerous. Many bottles have