Common name for a corkscrew in the Rheinhessen wine-growing region (Germany). The original name originated from an anecdote in 1752 in connection with a meeting of the town council of Bingen. The meeting had to be broken off because the town clerk, P. F. Weizel, who was taking the minutes, broke the goose quill, no replacement could be found and none of the councillors had a pencil to hand to have the minutes signed by all of them. The meeting was then continued in the council cellar. But when the mayor rummaged in vain for a corkscrew to open the first bottle of wine and looked around in search of it, all the councillors unearthed the device. The moral of the story: a citizen of Bingen may not always have a writing utensil at hand, but he certainly has a corkscrew.
Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi