New Corkscrew: The Durand .. A Web Video

WINE TALK
21

I’m in at $60.
alan

22

Thats what I am thinking.

I really like the idea and the craftsmanship sounds top notch but $125 is crazy.

$60 is much more reasonable and still very expensive for a corkscrew but I would be in.

23

Alan and Tyler,

The metal part of this is manufactured in Germany with really high quality materials and pretty exacting quality control.
That price point could be done but only in China.
Like the Laguiole Sommelier made in France, the material is really what drives the cost.
FWIW.

24

[welldone.gif]

25

I have one and am very happy. Priced on value it is a steal. Save one expensive old bottle from a bad cork experience and you have paid for it.

26

One of the main differences is that the Durand has a extra long ah-so which is far longer than any other ah-so I’ve ever seen so that the Durand ah-so will fit over the screw and still get to the bottom of the cork.

27

As a total nerd (and small collector) of mechanical and antique corkpullers, I must say this is fairly creative. Love to see someone invent a new mousetrap by combining attributes of prior, and quite old, designs. Was disappointed to see that the 2 pieces do not lock together in some fashion when fully engaged. Instead, it appears from the video that the person must essentially grip both pieces during the “pull”.

28

Nice… [dance-clap.gif]

29

Robert,
Once you rotate the pieces the “worm” flange and the “ah-so” section come into direct contact and form a single piece of sorts. They function as a unit because you are twisting in only one direction and pulling.
They just don’t lock together. To actually extract the cork you are using the t-flange on the worm section almost exclusively while the “ah-so” compresses the cork and keeps it from fracturing and rupturing around the worm. Hope this makes sense.
FWIW. Again to all. I have zero financial interest here. I am a friend of the inventor.

30

The Durand just became a bargain:

http://www.code-38.com/products-page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

$220.00

[swoon.gif]

31

Count me in for one. BTW had a couple of old wines over the holiday period for which it would have been handy to have.
Was it only me or did anyone else expect Borat to pop up in the demo. Borat's Guide to Wine Tasting (Extended Grapes Version) - YouTube

32

Ken Emery,

You are right, the Ah So is extra long, but then again, the worm on the cork screw piece is extra long too … plus wider in circumference, so that it never rips the center out of any cork during extraction.



If the cost of this device @ $125 seems to be high for some of the folks here who drink wine bottles that have a higher average cost per bottle than that … you should really look at this on a cost per bottle basis. If you drink 3 bottles of wine per week (and how many people here drink more on average?) that’s 160 bottles per year. Even if you have only 25 years of life left … most here are much younger … that’s 4,000 bottles that you will open. On a cost per bottle, it is not even worth calculating. That said, I bet most people here will open much more than 5,000 bottles during their remaining years! [winner.gif]

33

Howdy to you all

I’ve been venturing to the berserkers for awhile but having seen a friend’s product listed compels me to say hi.

The Durand looks like a great bit of kit and very well tailored to the purpose of protecting our investment in aged wines and the often displeasure of their corks crumbling.

I can see the value in this product NO QUESTION if the quality of it’s manufacture is as high as it appears. To consider we would all pay more than this for a quality wine, decanter or glass with which to drink our wine, why not the tool to extract the cork?

I have a number of wine knives and the pull tap and the best by far is the code-38 mentioned above.

A customer to my restaurant, recently sold after 8 years, designed and manufactures this awesome wine knife. For years Chateaux Laguiole has been the choice of wine key for professionals, even knowing how often these expensive tools break and are difficult to use.

I have put all my Laguioles in the draw and now use 2 different versions of the code-38, my favorite being the code-38 stealth and at 410 it’s worth every cent.

Like a good watch people in the know notice that you have invested in quality tools and appreciate it. The only downside being with Australian propensity to use Stelvin closures I get to use it less and less.

Invest in good wine, good food, good tools, good wood and good friends.

Happy drinking in 2011.

James

34

+1

35

I would think that if one is opening a bottle worth hundreds/thousands of dollars, $125 is a sound investment!

BTW I noticed one corkscrew went right through the cork. That is a no-no is it not? Sometimes one has to do it however eh.

36

I don’t think of it as a no-no at all. Happens with plenty of regular corkscrews too. Sometimes with a regular corkscrew it will push a tiny little of cork into the bottle, but the druand worm seems longer, narrower and wider. Since it is the Ah-So portion that seems to do a lot of the work the worm doesn’t have to be quite as thick.

37

I’ve tried to tell my ex this for years [wow.gif]

38

This really seems interesting, but the price is pretty high.

I don’t understand the idea of it saving a bottle of wine. The worst that happens to the bottle without this is the cork goes into the bottle. That just means you need a decanter and decanting funnel, both of which I have. While this seems like a neat device, I don’t really see it “saving” anything other than my shirt (while I have not had problems getting to the wine in the case of bad corks, I have had issues with shirts when the cork goes into the bottle).

What and when is BerserkerDay?

39

IMHO, it’s a requirement that the worm go all the way through the cork before starting to lift in order to ensure that the cork doesn’t break. By doing this, the cork is being lifted from the bottom without any stretching, which could result in the cork splitting. While I don’t have a Durand, I have a Screwpull-like corkscrew with a very long worm that always completely pierces the cork. I use it for easily opening old port bottles without the need for port tongs, etc.

40

I like my wine youngs but this would be something great to keep at the house or take to an event.

$125? No thanks but cheaper, sure! Lets see what Todd can muster up for us.

Leslie