The Rechargeable Wine Opener
A friend in need
Drinking wine should be an effortless affair, and indeed many of the gadgets reviewed on this page are designed to provide consumers with a hassle-free means of doing ordinary things. The irony is that these "ordinary things" are quite often exertion-free already, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Corkscrews are a prime example of design replacing practicality. Take the trusted waiter's friend: manually operated and straightforward, there's no thinking required, just drinking.
Now along comes the Rechargeable Wine Bottle Opener. It is big (but admittedly lightweight) and like all electronic appliances it comes with instructions - plus a list of safety points:
"When using this electrical appliance the following safety precautions should be taken to reduce the risk of fire, electric shock and personal injury..." Not much fun in that.
It needs to be charged for eight hours prior to first usage to avoid frustration. When we first tested it, we didn't charge it fully, and it got stuck during the opening act - nearly leaving a dinner party thirsty and upset. Luckily it could be removed from the bottle and the cork was then extracted using a waiter's friend.
When fully charged, however, the cordless opener did deliver on effortless opening - and it can apparently open 30 bottles before it needs to be returned to its charging stand.
To use, you simply place the tube-like gadget on top of a bottle (foil removed) and press the lower part of the switch. Making a sound similar to that of an electronic pepper grinder, the device's corkscrew spiral turns in a clockwise direction and removes the cork. To take the cork off the corkscrew, you simply press the upper part of the switch. Easy.
The Rechargeable Wine Opener attracted a fair share of impressed nods in the WINE magazine office, but the general feeling was that it does not provide a very discreet means of opening a bottle.
It retails for the very reasonable price of R295 from River Woods. Tel 011 887 3536, or www.riverwoods.co.za.
Got a gizmo worthy of review? Mail Jeanri-Tine van Zyl at jeanri@ramsaymedia.co.za.
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