WineCork Pro and older bottles?

The stubborn part is more about cork condition than bottle age in my experience with electric openers in general. A bottle can sit for years and still pop out clean if the cork stayed moist, and a newer one with a dried out top can fight you. So I would not buy it expecting it to magically fix every old bottle. It will definitely save your hands though, that part is real. Holding a manual one and twisting hard on a tight cork is exactly where these things earn their keep. I would say go in expecting easier pulling, not guaranteed clean pulls.

Mine bogged down on a soft old cork and just spun it.

For family dinners where your hands are the main concern, it does take the work out of pulling. I still keep a basic opener nearby for the occasional bottle that feels off when I start. Curious how often you’re opening the older ones versus fresh bottles.

At once or twice a month, that’s a small enough share that the electric still makes sense for the other twenty-something bottles. I’d get it for the everyday strain and just accept that the rare old one may need the manual backup.

Mine did fine on a bottle I’d had open for a couple weeks, cork came out in one piece. It’s not magic though, if the cork is already crumbling nothing is saving it.

My parents have one of those old school wall mounted openers in the kitchen and I always assumed electric would be slower, but I actually reach for the WineCork Pro more now. Not because of stubborn corks really, but because I like not having to line the screw up just right. With the manual one I sometimes get it slightly off center and it bugs me. The electric one just goes straight down as long as I hold it level. That said my mom still uses the wall one for bottles she’s had sitting for ages, she says she can feel what the cork is doing better. I get that, there’s something to be said for being able to tell if it’s about to give. For me though I’d rather just press the button and not think about it, even if it takes a second longer. I haven’t had a cork break on me yet but most of what we open is on the newer side. The older ones I kind of hold my breath on either way.

I’ve got a WineCork Pro and it’s fine on fresh bottles, but older corks are a crapshoot. Had one from a bottle I opened maybe six weeks earlier and the cork was dry and crumbly. The opener pulled it partway and then it just chewed the thing up, half the cork stuck in the neck. Not the opener’s fault really, that cork was already gone. But it didn’t save me either. So if you’re mostly dealing with bottles that have been sitting around a while, an electric opener won’t magically fix a bad cork. It’s easier on the hands for sure, that part I’ll give it. Just don’t expect it to be some kind of rescue tool for old stubborn bottles.

The hand strain part is the real reason I’d get one for family dinners. My grip isn’t what it used to be and fighting a tight cork gets old fast. Whether it saves an old crumbly cork is kind of a separate lottery.