6 Wine Tools I Can’t Serve Without

There is a lot of overpriced crap out there for wine drinkers…so many useless gadgets and gismos that really do very little to enhance your wine experience. They clutter your bar and waste money you should be spending on grapes. You don’t need a whole lot to enjoy great wine, just some basics.

Here are 6 things I wouldn’t serve wine without:

1. A Basic Decanter

   Le Chateau Wine Decanter
   You’ll do just fine pouring most of your wine directly from the bottle into your glass, but on the occasion that you do need a decanter (see my Should You Decant Your Wine post for more) this under $50 gem gets the job done. It’s simple, elegant, and looks great on your dining room table or bar.

2. A Fancy Waiter’s Corkscrew

   Laguiole en Aubrac Sommelier Waiter's Corkscrew
   Laguiole is the gold standard of wine openers. I bought myself one in Burgundy as a gift for passing my French wine course at Le Cordon Bleu and no one else in our home is permitted to use it. At $179, it’s a special piece, and absolutely NOT NECESSARY if you don’t open wine for a living.

3. A Less Fancy Waiter’s Corkscrew:

   This Viski Copper Corkscrew is a great affordable option. It comes in copper, gold, and matte black, costs just $17, works great, and looks badass…which really helps when you’re at war with a cork. Confidence is key.

   Another budget option: TRUE Truetap Corkscrew. These are just $6.68 on Amazon and come in a bunch of great colors. Throw one in every drawer.

   *Just a note on the waiter’s corkscrew. It’s truly the way to go when opening wine at home. Electric openers and rabbit ears are fine, but do yourself a favor and learn how to open a bottle of wine properly. It’s so rewarding. Stay tuned: wine opening video coming soon!

4. Wine Saver

   Vacu Vin
   I’ve been using Vacu Vin’s wine saver pumps for about 20 years. They’re $20, and are terrific at getting a bottle of wine from one weekend to the next. Just pump the air out of your wine bottle and the rubber stopper will preserve it better than a cork. Vacu Vin claims it will keep your wine fresh for up to 10 days. I think 7 days is more reasonable.

5. Wine Stopper

   Repour
   I just learned about these stoppers last year (from Jancis Robinson’s BBC Maestro class, I think) and they’re amazing when you need some extra preservation. These are $17.99 for a pack of 10. Just peel off the foil and use one stopper per wine bottle until finished. The stopper keeps sucking oxygen out of your wine bottle, keeping it fresh for weeks, especially if you store it in the fridge.

6. All Purpose Glasses

   If I had just one set of glasses in my home, it would be the Schott Zwiesel All Purpose Glasses. We use them practically everyday for every type of wine from sparkling to reds. They’re about $15/each on Amazon, but have the elegance of far more expensive glasses. My ONLY complaint is that the stem is a bit long so they don’t fit on every cabinet shelf, but we store them in a box under the counter and they suit us just fine.