Ode to the Vertical Rabbit

The Vertical Rabbit -- I pretty much exclusively use a simple waiter's corkscrew when opening a bottle of wine. Simple, compact and effective, it always gets the job done. Years ago, when the first Rabbit corkscrew came out with its lever and its single pump action to both extract the cork and twist it off the worm. It looked good, but was clumsy and difficult to use. I stuck to my waiter's corkscrew. But this year they came out with the vertical rabbit--it's much smaller and more compact and actually works much better than the original. With it, it's easier to obtain leverage and its general action is much smoother. For the individual bottle, I'll stick to my pocket-size opener. But if I'm going to be opening more than one or two, the Vertical Rabbit is the way to go. Find it at Sur La Table.