Impress your wine drinking friends and French bistro waiters with your wine bottle opening knowledge and French vocabulary.
Despite not being a French invention, the corkscrew and wine bottle opener are probably among the most valuable and indispensable tools in the French kitchen, bistros and bars.
Who invented the corkscrew?
In 1795, Mr. Samuel Henshall from England received the world’s first patent for the simple “twist and pull corkscrew.” Although he was the first to patent the simple corkscrew, he probably didn’t invent the corkscrew since other modes existed before his patent.
The Waiters Corkscrew
There have been countless innovations and variations on the modern-day corkscrew and wine bottle openers since Samuel received the first corkscrew patent, from prongs and wings to hinges and air pressure.
Perhaps the most famous wine bottle opener and the preferred corkscrew of servers, bartenders and sommeliers across the globe has to be the waiter’s corkscrew, invented and patented in 1882 by German inventor Carl F.A. Wienke, which he called a “Waiter’s Friend” in his patent filing.
For over 100 years, the waiter’s corkscrew was known as a wine key, not a “waiter’s friend” because of a pronunciation mistake.
When tavern owners wanted to order a new folding corkscrew, they asked their salesmen for “Wienke’s corkscrew.” However, because most English speakers didn’t know how to pronounce Wienke’s name, they asked for “wine key’s corkscrew.” Wienke is pronounced Veenka.
As the Wine key became more and more popular in taverns and restaurants, and after the bottle cap was invented in 1892, a bottle cap remover was added to Weinke’s Wine key opener, and it picked up a few other nicknames along the way, such as waiter’s corkscrew.
The anatomy of a waiters corkscrew in French and English
A waiter’s corkscrew in French is known by several names, just as it is in English. From “couteau de sommelier” (sommelier knife), and “tire-bouchon de sommelier” (sommelier corkscrew) to “limonadier”).
lemonador” obviously isn’t an English word. The wine key probably picked up this nickname in French when lemonade street vendors started using the wine key to open bottles of lemonade thanks to the bottle opener added to Weinke’s invention in the late 1900s.
Did you know a sommelier is a wine steward in a restaurant who’s in charge of wine and wine services?”
Learn the lingo of a corkscrew in French
Whether you’re trying to expand your French vocabulary or just curious, here is all the bottle opener vocabulary you need to impress your wine-drinking friends.
- Corkscrew = le tire-bouchon
- Bottle opener = l’ouvre-bouteille
- Waiter’s corkscrew = le couteau de sommelier, le limonadier, le tire-bouchon de sommelier
- Boot lever = Le levier articulé
- Bottle opener= Le décapsulateur
- Foil cutter blade= La lame coupe capsule.
- Handle (of the corkscrew)= le manche
- Corkscrew, worm = la mèche de tire bouchon
How to uncork a wine bottle (directions in French)
- Step one: Décapsuler la bouteille avec la lame coupe capsule.
- Remove the foil from the bottle with the corkscrew blade.
- Step two: Visser la mèche dans le bouchon.
- Screw the worm (corkscrew) into the cork.
- Step three: Placez le levier articulé sur le goulot, faites ensuite levier pour sortir le bouchon.
- Place the boot lever onto the lip of the bottleneck and pull out the cork.
Did you know You can buy a Laguiole corkscrew? But be careful not to buy a fake.
Go forth and open your wine bottles in style now.
The French Patented Spring-Loaded Double Lever Waiters Corkscrew and Wine Bottle Opener
Made in France by master craftsmen. Each piece is assembled from start to finish in one sequence and by a single artificer.
3 in 1 MULTI-FUNCTIONAL. Professional corkscrew with reinforced bottle opener and foil cutter with a serrated blade
Sourced directly from Pulltap in Barcelona, Spain and inspired by Gaudi.
Double-Hinged Lever Waiters corkscrew /wine bottle opener.
