Debates over wine openers tend to hinge (ha) on one main comparison: the classic double-hinged corkscrew, often simply referred to as a wine key or a waiter’s corkscrew, versus, well, everything else. The simple wine key is considered the superior tool by most sommeliers, preferable to a “butterfly” or winged corkscrew (the kind with two arms) or quick-fix gadgets like the Rabbit.
But for the wine drinkers who are opening bottles with a bit of age on them, there is an additional opener worth having when the near-infallible wine key wont cut it: an ah-so. Perhaps the simplest tool of all, an ah-so has two flat, thin prongs that, when inserted into the neck of the bottle, hug the cork on either side to extract it.