Sommelier's knife: features of choice and rules of use

Not for nothing every knife, if you think about it, is assigned its own role. Somehow convenient to cut bread, some - fruit; one is suitable for meat, the other for nuts.

According to the same principle, there are sommelier’s knives, which also have a simpler “popular” name - corkscrews.

What corkscrews exist when they appeared, as well as their varieties will be discussed further in the article.

For the first time, corkscrew entries as a tool appeared in the 17th century. An analogue, or even a prototype for this uncomplicated knife, became a willow - a tool that extracts shells from the muzzle of the powder in the event of a misfire.

In 1795, English priest Samuel Henshall patented this idea.

The development of corkscrews kept pace with the development and improvement of bottle capsSince bottled wine needed not only to close well, but also to be able to open it later.

Over the entire history of this instrument, more than 350 different types of sommelier knives have been registered and officially patented.

But there are other data, for example, in his book The History of Wine of 1681, critic Hugh Johnson described the corkscrew for the first time as something similar, resembling a “steel worm”, which is used to pull the cork out of the bottle. The product was called the “bottle screw”, which was logical for that time.

Another variation of where the sommelier’s knife came from is that the tool was first used not at all to open bottles of wine, but to open perfume bottles or for pharmaceutical jars, which, in turn, in order not to spill the contents of the bottle, clogged very tightly. And only after the corkscrew was very convenient in opening the bottles of perfume, he went to the wine bottles. The first types of the bottle screw appeared in France, but the British patented it.

As mentioned above, there are about 350 patented corkscrews in total. Consider what are now the "steel worms" and how they differ from the knife sommelier.

Most likely, everyone in the apartment had such a tool. This is an inexpensive mechanism that will help open any bottle, while it will not break.

It is a conventional screw with a handle, most often wooden, like the letter T. The principle of use is simple - we stick the point of the screw into the cork and twist the rod to the stop or to the middle, and then apply force and pull the cork out of the neck.

Of the shortcomings - you need to apply force, and sometimes even a lot of force. And not everyone can open the bottle the first time. Unlike the sommelier's knife, this model does not provide for a knife with which you can cut the label.

Invented in 1979 by Herbert Allen. His main task was to come up with a model that would be convenient to use, and, most importantly, easy. That is, it turns out, it was necessary to invent such a knife in order to open the bottles for them without much zeal or force.

The amazing and elegant bottle-opening system is that the knife has tongs that clasp the neck of the bottle, and the screw design itself is in the pistonwhich you, for a start, effortlessly insert into the lid, and then lift, thereby taking the cork.

The system is very simple and does not require any additional skills, but nevertheless the price for such a simple tool will be quite high, and it will take a lot of space. For wine lovers, such a knife will be a good gift and will be used for its intended purpose.

There are also other types of corkscrews - wine, eclectic, folding, which go in marching sets.

The sommelier's knife was invented in 1883 by the German inventor Karl Weinke. Now this tool is referred to as “Knife Wainke.”

The inventor himself initially assumed that the waiters would use his creation in the first place. So it was. But because of the convenience of the knife, the sommelier also began to use it, because it was practical, convenient and fast.

By type, the model can be divided into types:

• single-stage - the knife has only one notch on the working part;
• two-stage - this model has two notches.

Professional sommeliers prefer a two-stage knife, because it is more maneuverable to use, because everything happens in two stages. And this is considered to be the correct use of the tool, that is, the screw part moves the cork in the bottle and then removes it.

Another advantage of the two-stage system is that if a bottle of wine is old, there is a possibility that the lid is dry, thus becoming very fragile. It turns out that in this case, sharply pulling out the cork will be impossible, it will simply fall apart. And with two approaches it will be completely easy to open the lid.

Corkscrew is quite simple to use. In addition to the screw tip, there is a small knife in the tool that needs to cut the foil. You need to start right under the biggest bulge at the neck.

Then you should carefully remove the foil. Having spread the knife, we press the screw part on the cork with a screw part, make a puncture, then tighten the screw in the hole.

Next, you need to slightly pull the handle, checking how well the screw is fixed in the cork, and then with great effort pull the handle, but get the cover only half.

Then, setting the second notch to the edge of the neck, pull and pull the cork out of the bottle.

In this way it turns out to uncork the wine without unnecessary noise and undesirable consequences in the form of a spilled drink.

In order to choose the right professional corkscrew-knife, you need to know some of the features. Spiral corkscrew should be made of quality material. Buying a tool from the store, you can ask:

• Is the sting sharpened?
• whether the spiral is made of solid steel;
• what is the diameter of the helix.

How to open a bottle of wine with a sommelier's knife, see below in the video.