When Was the Corkscrew Invented?

Karen, when was the first corkscrew invented?

The first mention of a “corkscrue” was in England in 1681. The designs for the early corkscrews are thought to have evolved from gun cleaning tools. Interestingly, early corkscrews were expensive implements, owned by the upper classes and intended only for expensive wines since only expensive wines were bottled with corks driven flush with the top of the neck of the bottle. Other wines at the time were closed with cone-shaped corks that could be pulled out by hand or not bottled at all but sold straight from the cask. It wasn’t until well into the nineteenth century, with the growth of the middle class, the development of restaurants, and the growing prevalence of bottled wine, that the corkscrew became a common tool among large numbers of the populace in wine drinking countries.

— Karen

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