How to use a sommelier-knife ?
A sommelier knife is composed of several mobile parts :
• A long metal helix called the worm or corkscrew
• A longer element, the bootlever, which makes uncorking a bottle easier
• A side blade, the foil cutter, used to cut the aluminium foil which covers the bottle neck.
To uncork a wine bottle, all you need to do is follow these 4 simple steps:
1. Unfold the knife. When you take your sommelier knife, the worm and the foil cutter are folded in. Simply unfold them to use the device.
2. Cut the aluminium foil which covers the cork with the foil cutter or the tip of the worm.
We suggest that you cut the foil BELOW the lip of the bottle. This way, you avoid the wine coming into contact with the foil when you pour it out into the glasses.
Always fold the foil cutter back completely before inserting the corkscrew to avoid hurting your hand.
3. Screw the worm in. Make sure that you aim slightly off centre with the tip of the worm. Visualize the spiral loops as a straw, and position the straw in the centre of the cork – if you aim for the centre with the tip, uncorking will be harder.
Lightly press the tip into the top part of the cork. The gently spin the sommelier knife clockwise until only one loop of the worm is visible. Don’t go any further, you might screw right through and drop some cork into your wine.
4. Now you have two possibilities :
◦ Position the boot lever against the mouth of the bouttle to exert pressure and help you lift the cork more easily.
◦ Unfold your sommelier knife and pull on the handle of the corkscrew while gently rocking the sommelier knife from one side to the other. Be gentle, or you might break the corkof your fine vintage.

An original gift idea : offering a sommelier knife.
When we are invited to a dinner or birthday party, we usually think of bringing along a bottle of good wine, but why not offer a sommelier knife for a change?
A sommelier knife is also an ideal Christmas gift for a loved one who enjoys fine wines.
You can also choose between a version with a handle made of a precious wood variety, or a stainless-steel handled one, for those who enjoy industrial interior design. It is a perfect gift for oenologists and those who treat their wine cellars with the utmost love and care.
Made with quality materials, these customizable sommelier knives are a must for party tables and tastings alike.
Tough, elegant and perfectly ergonomic, the Laguiole sommelier knife is a gift which never fails to delight.

A brief history of the sommelier knife.
The sommelier knife, like so many other inventions, was born out of necessity. Ever since wine began to be sold in glass bottles closed with corks, people had been struggling to easily remove those corks. With the arrival of the first glass wine bottles in England at the end of the 17th century, inventors started to design devices to make uncrking easier.
The earliest mention of a corkscrew dates back to the 1680’s. Those rudimentary devices – the ‘steel worms- were actually a version of the barrel worms used to clean musket barrels and manufactured by gunsmiths. Over the next 300 years, inventors filed hundreds of patents, continuously improving the design of those first corkscrews.
The sommelier knife goes back to 1882. A patent was filed by the German inventor Carl F. A. Wienke under the name ‘Waiter’s friend’ or ‘Butler’s friend’.
This thin foldable corkscrew (whose shape resembles a folding pocket knife – hence its name ‘sommelier knife’) features one screw and only one lever.
This is also when it became known as a ‘limonadier’ in France, since the bottle opener incorporated into the design allows waiters to open both beer and lemonade bottles in one single fluid gesture.
The handle of the sommelier knife uses the side of the wine bottle as a lever, facilitating the upwards extraction of the cork. It is a game-changer for wine connoisseurs at the time, even if professionals (restaurateurs and café owners) are the ones who welcomed it the most.