The Corkzy Story

Our journey began in the winter of 2016 at our lovely home in Portland, Oregon. Tucked away at the end of NW 23rd Avenue, our house (deemed 1835) has provided residence to various groups of friends as they transition from college grads into young hard-working professionals. But the most unlikely thing made this home a special place, and it’s not what you would think. A simple yet, elegant wine opener, a novelty gadget that was the gateway to a damn good time!

It was just another wine night with a lively group of friends, we were all sharing stories and enjoying each other’s company. At some point in the night, one of the friends managed to break a cork while opening a bottle with a traditional waiter’s key. Choice words were heard from the kitchen expressing discontent for traditional openers, there had to be a better solution. One of the 1835’ers jumped into action and produced this novelty gadget, it was a wine opener from generations past that worked by only twisting in a single direction. It was sleek, elegant, yet very effective. How could something so simple, work so well?

As the friends watched intently and the excitement peaked, so did the curiosity of where to acquire one of their own. It would be an easy and quick holiday gift for any of their wine drinking friends, a real slam dunk! If only it could have been that easy… After a quick web search came up empty, the friends sat around puzzled; how could the world’s best wine opener no longer be for sale?? There was only one logical solution; embark on a ridiculously expensive and challenging year-long journey to develop a wine opener with an easy to hold grip, smooth to twist and opened a bottle in a hurry.

After a few more bottles of wine, this mere idea became more colorful and attainable than ever. With every twist, every pop, and every sip, it became apparent that this was going to be our calling, the next big idea! We were not just going to re-create the design, we would modernize, innovate, and re-master the entire wine opening industry once and for all. We would revolutionize the way people opened their wine bottles.

We consulted the women in our lives (they knew a lot more about wine than we did!) and asked
what they would want in a wine opener. “Cute,” “colorful,” “fun” and “easy to use” were some of
the words they used to describe their perfect gadget. We wanted to be different than anything
else on the market, and most importantly, easy to use.

No more struggling and fumbling with waiter’s keys, or large & bulky counter mounted units. Gone are the days of being an expert bottle opener or having some special talent to unlock the power of the fermented grapes. The simple principle behind Corkzy is to give users an easy to use and effective bottle opener so you can spend less time opening, and more time drinking.

After months of design, development, and coordinating with brilliant manufacturers, we have finally arrived on a product we love and are proud of. Countless hours of testing and tinkering have gone into Corkzy to ensure the best product possible and we continue to build each Corkzy in the same Portland home it all started in. Each unit is hand assembled with care and attention to detail, and after vigorous quality testing we proudly send them off to their new homes of wine lovers all over the world.

One year later, here we are, and we’re thrilled to share our pride and joy with you, your family and friends. We are pleased to introduce to you, Corkzy. It’s as easy as twist, pop, sip.

Cheers,
Ben & Carl