Opening a corked wine bottle is a skill you never really think about needing until you’re staring it in the face. Whether you’re celebrating a friend’s success, gathering with family for a nice dinner or having a casual glass after a long day of work, the opener you reach for makes all the difference in how quickly you hear that coveted popping sound of the cork being freed.
I recently turned 21 years old in June (yay!), so, in an effort to waste no time, I’ve decided that now is the time to learn how to properly open a corked bottle of wine. Not all wine openers are created equally and, like most things, there are several options out there to choose from. Some require more physical strength and technique, while others will complete the entire process basically for you.
Instead of you having to trial-and-error your way through finding the best wine openers, we did the work for you! We put 10 of them — both manual and electric — to the test for our Ranked series to find the ones that’ll help eliminate the fear that creeps up when someone suggests opening that bottle of pinot that’s been sitting on the shelf for a few months.
What to look for in a wine bottle opener
When looking for a wine opener, it’s important to find one that is both easy to use and reliable, so you don’t destroy the cork before you can even take a sip.
Adrien Falcon, sommelier and managing partner of Arvine Hospitality Group explains that one of the biggest issues people face when opening a bottle of wine is breaking the cork itself.
“For everyday use I’d recommend a double-pull mechanism. You have two levels. One in the middle that grips to pull the first part of the cork out and the tip of the pull helps remove the end of the cork, preventing breakage,” Falcon shares.
Certified sommelier Ilana Kresch says two of the most necessary qualities in a good wine bottle opener are a good blade for cutting the foil and very sturdy actual screw attachment. Without these two features, there’s a chance your wine opening experience will go downhill before it even fully begins.
Best electric wine bottle opener
Secura Electric Wine Opener
Efficiency: 5/5 | Ease of use: 5/5 | Volume: 3/5 | Overall average score: 4.3/5
We decided to crown a winner for both electric and manual since it’s slightly unfair to pit a piece of technology against a manual machine. However, if we had to pick one overall winner amongst all the options we tested, it would have to be this Secura electric wine opener from Amazon.
First things first, the foil cutter it came with performed beautifully. It only needed a few twists around the top of the bottle before it popped itself off and left a smooth separation between the bottle and the foil.
The instructions for the bottle opener itself emphasized the importance of keeping the machine upright to avoid any mishaps, which made me a little nervous to potentially get it wrong somehow. However, once I pressed the power button, the whole process was over within a few seconds. Once the cork was removed from the bottle, I clicked the button that turned the corkscrew the other way and the cork popped right onto the table.
The Secura wine opener gets extra points for having a transparent bottom that allowed me to see exactly where the cork was at in the removal process, a feature I didn’t know would be so valuable until I tested other openers without this later on.
While this wine opener wasn’t the quietest electric option we found, it wasn’t the loudest, either. Its outstanding performance outweighed any potential concerns about volume one may have.
Best overall manual wine bottle opener
Efficiency: 4.5/5 | Ease of use: 4.5/5 | Volume: N/A | Overall average score: 4.5/5
The OXO Lever Corkscrew was the clear winner for the manual openers we tested. It requires very minimal physical labor and won’t leave you sweating, which is something that I found happening more than once with some of the other manual styles in the bunch.
The process is super simple. A foil cutter is built into the top of the lever and slides right out for easy access. It makes an efficient cut and has a convenient resting place for when you’re done opening the foil. After that, place the opener over the neck, making sure the handle is upwards. Then, pull down to insert the screw into the cork and up one final time to remove it from the bottle. No endless twisting which significantly helps to avoid crumbling.
I was a little confused at first since it’s not a style I’d ever seen before. Having the directions nearby was key for success on my first try with this. Once you get the hang of it though, it is way easier than it appears.
$50 for a manual wine opener is a bit pricey, but for the effectiveness and lack of physical struggle, we think the OXO Lever is definitely worth it.
More wine bottle openers, tested by the author
Quietest electric wine bottle opener:
Efficiency: 4/5 | Ease of use: 4.5/5 | Volume: 4.5/5 | Overall average score: 4.3/5
The Cuisinart electric wine opener performed very similarly to our best electric overall. It includes both a charging stand and a foil cutter and has easy-to-navigate buttons to get the job done.
I found that you need to push down a little harder with this machine than some of the other ones to get the corkscrew to actually make its way into the cork. The fact that the bottom isn’t transparent also requires you to determine where you are in the process off of a feeling, which isn’t ideal for amateur wine openers. It also took the longest out of the electric openers, so it lost a point for efficiency. Even though it received the same overall score as the Secura model, those minor issues made the Secura come out on top.
Differences aside, this was a pretty solid option when all was said and done. There were no machine jams or crumbling corks. The foil cutter was very easy to use. And what really made it stand out was how quiet it was in both volume and tone (it didn’t have a piercing sound like some of the other electric ones we tested).
Most high-tech wine opener:
Efficiency: 4/5 | Ease of use: 4.5/5 | Volume: 4/5 | Overall average score: 4.17/5
The Rabbit electric opener was the most high-tech opener we tested. It has a built-in foil cutter on top that conveniently screws off and on for storage, and it’s designed to work with no buttons required. Its style is sleek and feels expensive, which makes sense since it is one of the higher-priced electric openers on our list.
The foil cutter on this model isn’t transparent the way the Secura model is, which made it a little trickier to tell if I had adequately completed the job or not. However, it didn’t take long to cut the foil completely and still did so pretty easily.
The instructions say to place the opener over the top of the bottle and let the machine take over from there. It smoothly pulled itself down to the bottom of the cork and I was impressed that it automatically began working. Within about a minute, it reversed itself to extract the cork fully from the bottle. This is where things got a little tricky because once it reached the top, it got slightly stuck and I needed to press the eject button they include on top in case a situation like this occurs.
The button did not fully unjam it, but it allowed me to separate the machine from the cork which was about 95% of the way out of the bottle. Slight struggle aside, this bottle opener was on the quieter end of options, which was a nice plus.
Best for a housewarming gift:
Efficiency: 5/5 | Ease of use: 5/5 | Volume: 2/5 | Overall average score: 4/5
The Moocoo is a great housewarming present because it comes with everything you need for a complete wine experience: the opener, a foil cutter, two stoppers and a two-in-one aerator and pourer.
It has a design similar to Secura with a clear bottom, button operation and hollow foil cutter. Being able to see how far along the process was with the clear bottom was both fun to watch and appreciated from an efficiency standpoint. All in all, it got the job done easily.
One thing to note about this opener is it’s pretty loud. It was noticeably louder than the other electric ones we tested. If the volume was a bit lower, we could see this one taking the crown for best overall. It’s still a great option, but the volume might not be for everybody.
Beginner-friendly manual wine bottle opener:
Efficiency: 4/5 | Ease of use: 4/5 | Volume: N/A | Overall average score: 4/5
Only one other manual opener scored high enough to be considered a Ranked winner, and that was the Houdini winged corkscrew.
Before conducting these tests, I had zero clue how to operate a winged corkscrew, so I didn’t know that the arms needed to open up as you twist. The arms on this one were naturally slightly raised, which helped me avoid holding them down and messing with the mechanism. The twisting into the cork caused some mild splintering, but no pieces wound up in the bottle. It also popped the cork out all the way with no jamming once I pulled the handles down to slide the cork out of the bottle.
One thing to note is that this opener does not come with any kind of foil cutter, which had me resort to using a foil cutter from a different set.
If you’re looking for a basic, manual wine opener and you’re debating between a waiter’s style or a winged, go with the winged. Yes, it requires the twisting, but it is not as strenuous as the struggle of trying to rock a waiter’s corkscrew back and forth until you finally hear the bottle pop.
For someone who has never used a manual wine opener before this experience, I would feel confident about having to use the Houdini again.
Frequently asked questions
In short, no. If you are opening a particularly aged bottle of wine, say 15-20 years, Falcon recommends getting rid of the corkscrew all together and using an ah so-style (double pronged) opener instead.
Kresch refers says the double-hinge waiter's corkscrew is the most universal style of wine opener. Although not always easy in the beginning, she believes it is the most reliable.
First of all, take a deep breath. Calm yourself before even attempting to open the bottle. This will allow you to focus more on the task at hand.
Kresch recommends making sure you get the foil off by placing your cutter under the lip of the bottle, “which is the bulge at the very top of the neck.” Then cut under the lip in a circle. “That’s how you avoid cutting yourself on the label and you’ll be able to cleanly extract everything from there,” Kresch explains.
Another one of Kresch’s top tips is making sure the corkscrew lands directly center of the cork, or if not, as close to the middle as possible.
Falcon reminds everyone to “go slow.” Don’t feel like you are in a rush when opening a bottle. You would rather you take your time and have a successful removal, than be left drinking bits of broken cork.
How we tested wine bottle openers
We tested a total of 10 wine bottle openers, varying in different styles, brands and designs on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best) in the following categories:
- Efficiency: How well did it remove the cork overall? Was it timely? Did it cause the cork to break or jam? Did it require multiple tries?
- Ease of use: If it was electric, did it remove the cork the way it claimed it would without getting stuck? If it was manual, did it remove the cork without having to exert much labor?
- Volume (electric only): How loud or quiet was it? How annoying would the sound be if it was used at a gathering or during a time you are trying to relax?
Each opener was paired with a new, fully sealed bottle of wine from either Napa Cellars and Santa Margherita. I read all of the directions that corresponded with the openers if any were provided. They each were given one try from beginning to end until the cork was fully removed from the bottle. Once overall scores were calculated and everything was tested at least once, the Secura opener was given a second try to confirm the process was as smooth as I thought.
Why trust Shop TODAY?
Alexa Passaro is an editorial intern at Shop TODAY. In addition to supporting production efforts, she has worked on our Awards franchises and gift guides.
Meet the experts
- Ilana Kresch has been a certified sommelier from Sommelier Society of America since 2008 and obtained her MBA in food and wine from the University of Bologna.
- Adrien Falcon has been a sommelier since he was 18 years old. He worked as the wine director for a restaurant where he oversaw a collection of 40,000 wines. He now serves as a managing partner of Arvine Hospitality.
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