Opening the Bottle

A simple, old-fashioned, "waiter's friend" corkscrew works just fine, says Ritchie of Sotheby's. His advice: The threads of the corkscrew must be as wide as possible, without a central column. Those with a center bore through the cork, he says.

$45: Rabbit Wine Opener set, corkscrew with rack-and-pinion lever system. Includes matching foil cutter and spare corkscrew coil -- Crate & Barrel

$20: Rabbit Drip-Stop Ring, fits on any size bottleneck to stop wine drips and stains, four rings -- Metrokane

Running tally: $5,219