The best wine openers and corkscrews

There are only 172 Master Sommeliers in the United States, but just because you haven't earned that distinction doesn't mean that you can't pick great wine.

We've tested multiple services and their wines (a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!), and have selected some of our favorites for you to try. Whether you've been drinking wine for years or are just beginning to discover whether you prefer red to white, these are the best wine subscriptions.

The size, shape, construction, and style of a wine glass can dramatically alter how the wine will taste. There are dozens of different specialized wine glasses, but most glasses are grouped into one of two categories: red or white wine glasses. These are the best wine glasses for both reds and whites.

By exposing wine to several minutes' worth of air in just a few seconds, a good aerator is one of the simplest, easiest, and cheapest ways to get the most flavor out of your wines. These are the best wine aerators you can buy.

Metrokane, a leading wine accessories company founded in 1983, created the original Rabbit brand of manual and electric corkscrews. While the corkscrews have been much copied, they have never been replicated and continue to dominate the field. The innovative standing design of the Rabbit Vertical Corkscrew elevates the original Rabbit's quality and performance to an even higher level.

There is no manual twisting with this opener. Place it on the bottle, lower and raise the handle, and the cork will be instantly removed. One more push of the lever ejects the cork. This corkscrew is compatible with all types of corks, including plastic and synthetic, and comes with a foil cutter and one replacement spiral.

Pros: Super fast, easy-to-use, durable

Cons: Bulky and hard to store

To use the OXO Good Grips Winged Corkscrew, simply place the base over the cork, twist the head to drive the screw down into the cork, and press the wings down to extract the cork.

In my experience, one of the hardest parts of using a wing corkscrew is overcoming the initial wobble before the screw has gripped the cork. The OXO Good Grips Corkscrew has overcome this with an extra wide base that sits on top of the neck of the bottle. You can squeeze the sides of the corkscrew around the bottle to mitigate the dreaded wobble.

My next common gripe with wing corkscrews is that the head is often made of thin metal which makes turning it painful on the hands. But the turning knob on the OXO Good Grips is large and wide, making it comfortable to grasp and easy to turn — no thin metal edges cutting into your fingers.

Built into the base of this corkscrew is a removable foil cutter — it actually must be removed to uncork a bottle. But reinserting it after the job is done allows you to stand the corkscrew up, which is great if you want to leave it out on your counter for easy access.

Pros: Comes with foil cutter, wide base minimizes wobble, large head makes turning the screw easy

Cons: Bulkier than your average wing corkscrew

Designed to fit all traditional wine bottles, the Oster Cordless Electric Wine Bottle Opener with Foil Cutter can open a bottle in a matter of seconds. The unit comes with a separate foil opener that can be conveniently stored in the base so that it not easily lost.

Use the ergonomically designed soft-grip handle to place the opener on top of the bottle. Then, a simple push of a button activates the unit's corkscrew spiral, and voila — the cork is rapidly removed from the bottle. Simply press the upper part of the switch and the spiral turns in the opposite direction to release the cork from the wine opener.

Fully charging the unit takes six to eight hours. After that, it is good to go for approximately 30 bottles without having to return it to the small base, which includes a power indicator light. The opener also has a blue LED charging light on it, so you will never be caught unprepared.

This wine opener comes with a one-year warranty.

Pros: Easy to use, quick, affordable, sleek design, long-lasting

Cons: Bulky, not good for travel

If money is no object and you're regularly shelling out big bucks for a bottle of wine, then you may opt to go with a luxury wine opener. Laguiole has long been considered the Lamborgini of the wine accessories industry. Made in France, these waiter-style corkscrews have unique handles crafted with amazing materials like ancient trees found in the garden at Versailles, stag's horn, and even fossilized mammoth tusks.

There is a lot of confusion surrounding Laguiole corkscrews. That's mostly because Laguiole is not actually a brand, but the name of a small town in the south of France. Laguiole became associated with a specific shape of a traditional knife — and later high-quality corkscrews — that were hand-made in Laguiole and the nearby town of Thiers. Unfortunately, the name was never copyrighted, so anyone can claim to make a Laguiole corkscrew and knock-offs abound on the Internet. The three most reputable brand names you should be looking for are Aurac, Chateau, and Forge; in addition, make sure to buy your corkscrew from a well-known dealer.

This genuine corkscrew is expertly assembled by a single master craftsman from start to finish, ensuring that your end product is unique. The screw and built-in serrated foil cutter are forged from ultra-strong brushed stainless steel. Your corkscrew also comes with a beautiful wooden storage box and a certificate of authenticity.

Pros: Extraordinary craftsmanship, easy to use, durable, lifetime warranty

Cons: Expensive, knockoffs abound

Year after year, the Pulltap's Double-Hinged Waiter's Corkscrew appears on list after list of the world's best wine openers. Made by Barcelona-based Pulltap's, one of the world's preeminent wine accessories companies, this double-hinged corkscrew does the job and does it well.

For starters, the Teflon-coated screw and the solid stainless steel arms give the opener a sturdy feeling. The serrated knife that serves as a foil cutter is nice and sharp. When folded closed, one end serves as an easy-to-use bottle opener. The standard handle is black metal but you can opt for other colors or minor upgrades like a chrome finish.

What does double-hinged mean anyway? It means that you have much more leverage to easily remove a cork without breaking it. It actually refers to the fold-out lever that will be placed at two points against the mouth of the bottle. There are single-lever openers out there, but it's well worth shelling out a few more bucks to lessen the number of crumbling corks you encounter.

This wine opener comes with a one-year warranty.

Pros: Affordable, easy to use, sturdy, travels well, won't chip wine or beer bottles

Cons: Knife is sometimes difficult to open