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Product Description
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Product Description
Still, you don't need to be a mechanical genius to appreciate the pulling power of this little bunny. Select any size wine bottle, and see this ergonomically-designed, user-friendly tool overpower stubborn, dried-out natural corks and synthetic closures with ease. Simply close the "ears" over the neck of the bottle, and raise and lower the lever. Lickety-split, the opener removes and ejects the cork without any effort on your part. This high-tech tool also comes with a handy foilcutter and an attractive, padded gift case. Metrokane covers its Rabbit corkscrew under a 10-year warranty.
From the Manufacturer
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The best-known bunny since "Bugs," the Metrokane Rabbit corkscrew is a hopping success that has been the talk of the wine business, and is America’s favorite wine tool.
It all begin when The New York Times raved about the corkscrew with the "bunny profile," calling it "a foolproof device" for uncorking wine. The Wine Spectator tested the Rabbit Corkscrew and had to admit being "impressed." Great reviews followed in Food & Wine, Playboy, Men’s Journal, the wine column of The San Francisco Chronicle, and a host of other newspapers. "The Rabbit" was off and running and ready for its close-up on TV shows from coast to coast--including The Today Show. Possibly the most decorated product design in its category, the Rabbit’s illustrious list of awards include the IDEA Award by Business Week and the Industrial Designers Society of America, as well as the Good Design Award of the Chicago Athenaeum Museum
A Short Course in Wine Openers
The Basic Corkscrew
The earliest corkscrew dates back several centuries when corks were first used as bottle-stoppers. The basic corkscrew is a spiral wire (called a "worm") with a handle attached. The worm is turned into the cork, which is removed by pulling the handle up. The drawback of the basic corkscrew is that it provides no leverage. The cork must be pulled out by brute force, often with great difficulty. Subsequently mankind's ingenuity went to work improving on the basic corkscrew. In the U.S. alone hundreds of corkscrew patents were filed in the 19th century. (At the time corks were used as stoppers in bottles of whiskey, olive oil, and other liquids as well as wine.) By 1900 three effective designs had emerged that still account for the great majority of corkscrews in use today.
The Bartender's Corkscrew
This design uses a fulcrum that engages the top edge of the wine bottle, to give leverage to the handle when pulling the cork.
It's called the bartender's or waiter's corkscrew because it can be folded and carried in the pocket.
It requires a sure hand and a lot of practice, however, to master its use.
(For a pocket corkscrew that's easy to use, check out Metrokane's Flip-Top Corkscrew.)
The Wing Corkscrew
This type is so-called because the handles on each side rise like wings when the worm is turned into the cork.
After full insertion, the handles are pulled down to leverage the cork out.
While a wing-type cork-screw will work well enough on some corks, its design requires a thick, augur-like metal worm, which can crumble or even destroy a fragile cork.
The Self-Pulling Corkscrew
More than a century old, this design consists of a basic corkscrew fitted into a guide. After the worm has been inserted into the cork, the user continues turning in the same direction, and the "stop" action of the guide forces the cork to pull itself out. (Thus "self-pulling").
With a metal worm, the friction between the cork and worm make the self-pulling action difficult for most corks, impossible for tight ones.
It was not until 1978 that this problem was surmounted by Herbert Allen, a Texan oil expert who applied his drilling know-how to the self-pulling corkscrew. By using a Teflon coating on the worm, Allen reduced the friction between cork and worm so dramatically that the self-pulling action became almost effortless. His new corkscrew design was soon recognized as the most effective device yet for pulling a cork. Check out Metrokane's Velvet Corkscrew, an elegant self-pulling design named for its soft-as-velvet finish.
The Rabbit Corkscrew
The original device of this type was invented by the same man, Herbert Allen, who perfected the self-pulling corkscrew.
Metrokane applied similar mechanical principles to develop the Rabbit Corkscrew, which was introduced in 2000. The Rabbit has two gripping handles that latch onto the top of a wine bottle and a top handle that drives the corkscrew into the cork and pops it out in three seconds flat. With another quick movement of the top handle the cork is ejected from the corkscrew. The Rabbit is comprised of 31 separate parts assembled into a powerful, high-tech tool. Its ergonomic design and velvet feel make it a pleasure to operate.
Customer Reviews
I have to say, my favorite thing about it is the foil cutter, strange though that may be. The foil cutter is shaped like an oversized bottle cap, and you fit it over the top of the bottle, squeeze, and turn. The foil comes off cleanly just above the little ridge usually found around the mouth of the wine bottle. Very clean-looking and much easier than using the often dull blade on a waiter's corkscrew.
The corkscrew itself is very nice as well. It is a little bulky, but it is amazing how fast you can open a bottle of wine with it. Line it up, pull the lever forward, push it back, et voila. Forward and back once more and the cork is free of the screw. No gripping the bottle with your knees while pulling at the cork or anything like that; you don't need to use a lot of effort, just a firm hand.
One thing that surprised me is the fact that it often spits little crumbs of cork into the bottle, which then wind up in my glass. It seems that the screw is long enough to go all the way through the cork, and when it exits the bottom of the cork, sometimes a little bit of cork gets spit out. I guess you can be careful not to let this happen, but still it happens to me more than I would like.
So all in all, not the perfect corkscrew, but fast and easy to use, and cute as well--a trait few corkscrews share. Stock up on wine, because people will want to try it.
What caused it's demise? Well, I've gone through 2 worms (the spiral thingie that penetrates the cork) and now after getting a new worm still can't open a bottle of wine.
Here's what the issue is, the worms are coated with a slick (Teflon?) coating that wears off over time. Also in the top of the cap that holds the worm in the device is a single ball bearing that is supposed to allow the worm to do its thing to the corks upon penetration (it allows the worm to turn under preassure).
Well some of these new fake corks made of plastic are much harder then both real cork corks and most of the foam plastic corks (if you want an example of one, try St Francis Winery & Vineyard bottles) and they take the slippery finish off the worm rather quickly and take a great amount of force to penetrate the 'cork'.
Their 'cork' seal is like a plastic capsule filled with some kind of compressed foam and the damn things seem to be very hard on the Rabbit... Needless to say, after a case and a half of that wine over time (the wife likes the Claret) the Rabbit is dead. The ball doesn't turn in the top of the cap over the worm and while you can get the worms very easily, the cap isn't available, as far as I can tell. I've had to resort to the brute force Screwpull and Xyliss that I had as backups.
The Rabbit has a 10 year warranty and I've thought of sending it in and seeing what happens.
I'd definately recommend having a backup screw around for those crazy fake 'cork' bottles like St Francis... Kenwood switched to a foam filled vinyl sleeve 'cork' and those are a breeze with the Rabbit but if you're too quick you might actually push it into the bottle (Hint to St Francis)...
A great cork screw, if only all the wineries still used real cork 'corks' and not these high tech plastic blasphemous abominations...
I've used the several new screws Metrokane sent back after the last "repair."
The problem always first occurs when trying to remove the cork from the device after it has removed the cork from the bottle. You begin operating it in reverse but it does not release the cork, it only seems to bend and distort the screw.
Perhaps Metrokane should have replaced the mechanism when first sent in for repair. I had some doubts at that time that the two ends of the tool were still properly aligned; but Metrokane chose to send it back to me with 2 new screws, both of which now are ruined.
I don't think I did anything to abuse or misuse it.
I think Metrokane should rework the design of the mechanism or actually repair it when returned by customers.
I no longer recommend it. It's too expensive to be this unreliable.
The first one was great.
This one is terrible - DOES NOT PULL CORK OUT OF BOTTLE. Read more
