Antique Wine Bottle Corker

Along with a small fruit press - this antique wine bottle corker is another one of my favorite wine-making devices. I found this at a local junk store here in Alaska over 20 years ago for $15 and it is amazing. Made by Sanbri a well known French wine equipment company. They made several smaller hand bottle corkers, but I cannot find this model any more.

This model is designed to be mounted onto a bench although I use it on the floor just fine. There was a cork pad on the base to cushion the bottles that was missing and I have replaced this with a rubber pad.

The corker height is easily adjusted with a thumb screw in the back to allow for different size bottles. There is a chamber that holds the cork and a lever to compress the cork before inserting into the bottle. You can also adjust the corker plunger to set the corks just below the bottle rim.

This is a very strong all metal corker that should last for many years...

Bottling your finished wine can be a chore. Washing bottles, removing old labels, and sanitizing bottles and equipment on bottling day. Filling and corking is much easier with the right equipment. A good corker is well worth the expense.

 
Although my sturdy antique corker is no longer available you may find one for sale on ebay if you are lucky. Most serious winemakers today use a wine bottle floor corker made in Portugal and available at many local wine-making shops or online from Amazon here.