AROUND HOME : Notes on a Bottle Opener, Plus Garden and Animal Events : Champagne Star

THE MONK Dom Perignon took one sip and exclaimed, “I’m drinking stars!” In return, a champagne was named after him. But there are people--lots of them--who worry about seeing stars every time a bottle of bubbly gets opened. These are the people who rush out of the room whenever a bottle of champagne makes an appearance, the same people who insist on pulling out those stories about others who’ve lost eyes to projectile champagne corks.

Nobody need ever run out on a bottle of champagne again. The Hallen Co. in Houston, Texas, has now come up with a foolproof way to safely open a bottle of champagne. (This is the same company that makes the Screwpull Corkscrew, the world’s best corkscrew wine opener. The Teflon-coated corkscrew is impossible to put in crooked, and the mechanism is engineered so that in one smooth turn the cork is removed--all in one piece.)

The Champagne Star is a small, heavy piece of sculpture that works on a simple principle. Once you’ve removed the wire cage that holds the cork onto a bottle of champagne, you put the Champagne Star in the four ridges left in the cork and press into place. You now have something that allows you to grasp the cork firmly. Hold on, turn slowly, and let the gas push the cork out in a controlled exodus.

And drink your stars in peace.

The Champagne Star costs about $12 and is available throughout Southern California, including at Bullock’s; The Broadway; Nordstom’s; Williams-Sonoma; Trader Joe’s; Kitchen World in Santa Monica; Wally’s in Westwood; Bristol Farms in South Pasadena; Flask Liquor in Studio City; Kitchen Emporium in Torrance; Plaza Cutlery in Costa Mesa; Kitchen Fancy in Palm Desert, and Graffiti Inc. in San Diego.