Hello fellow cave dwellers! This week I’d like to share some of my favorite wine gadgets and accessories. Many of these accessories may already play a starring or supporting role in your wine world already. Others, not so much.
First things first. You need a good place to store your wine, after you purchase it. It doesn’t have to be one of those featured in the pages of Wine Enthusiast, costing thousands of dollars. I don’t have that kind of money and I’d rather use my disposable income on the wine itself. Don’t get me wrong, you really should be careful that your wine is stored in a dark, cool spot. The temperature should be fairly consistent. Think where mushrooms might like to grow (and the wine doesn’t need to be watered).
I hasten to add that when I mentioned to my wife that I was taking pictures of parts of our basement (serving as our wine cellar) she was not a happy camper. After all, our basement also houses kitty litter boxes, washer and drier, miscellaneous exercise equipment and a poker table (presently covered with hoarded supplies). Then there’s the dust and cobwebs…I agreed to dust and polish. But if you still see dust remember, dust and wine go together. Wine should not be disturbed while resting and aging.
Now that I have sufficiently lowered your expectations of what you will see below…
When I initially was setting up a nice home for my wine, I bought a couple of hard plastic units, each holding 22 bottles. I already had two old wooden wine cases that had been used years ago when I purchased wine in them. As time went by, my wife bought me a small wine fridge, holding 18 bottles. A lot of folks assumed these were for white wines. Not true. I keep some white wines in my cellar and some in my old garage refrigerator. The wine fridge is for my more prized red wines. They are aging safely and carefully at controlled temperatures.
So you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg on your wine cellar and storage. Out of pocket expenses for my wine storage was less than $250 (including the wine fridge). The space under the church pews holds about 120 bottles. I’m still looking for a home for those on top of the church pew. But have no fear, I don’t need a permanent home. Whatever you do, don’t store them in your kitchen. It is generally the warmest and brightest room in your house. Both elements will spoil your wine in record time.
Okay. So you purchased your wine and are storing it in a safe, conducive environment (even if, like mine, it won’t ever appear in Architectural Digest). Now what we need is a good, dependable wine opener…
Probably, one of the easiest and most common is the metal corkscrew with “wings.” It is often called The Winged Butterfly Corkscrew (not shown below-mine broke a few weeks ago after many years of service).
The corkscrew preferred by sommeliers, waiters and waitresses is sometimes known as the “The Waiter’s Friend.” I must say, this is not one of my favorites. It takes a little practice to get it right. However, it does allow opening the bottle without putting the bottle on the table. This is the etiquette protocol of the server at a restaurant. An example of this type is pictured below.
Two of my favorite openers are pictured below. The black corkscrew is easy to use. It twists in the same direction until the cork is secure and removed. It is fairly cheap and very durable. Mine is over a decade old and it still works great. Next to this one is an air pump type with a needle that punctures the cork and inserts air, forcing the cork up and out. It works on most corks, but I always have a back-up because it is not 100% full-proof.
Over the years I have had table-top lever openers and a Rabbit, as well as an electric (battery-powered opener. None are still in my repertoire. Another I occasionally use is the Two-Prong Corkscrew, pictured below. I have even used these to pull out remnants of a broken cork, still in the bottle…very carefully.
If you can afford it, the Coravin system is the Cadillac of these tools. I purchased the first version, which is by far the least expensive. With a 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond, it was a little over $100. Then there’s the cost for additional Argon capsules and needles. What you get for the money is drinking wine from a bottle that never gets opened. The remainder of the bottle can be stored for very long periods without noticeable change in the character of the wine. The needle pierces the cork, but it re-seals once you remove the needle. I love it. The more expensive models pour faster, but I can be patient when I need to be.
A foil cutter is a nice, cheap addition to your wine toolbox. Do you absolutely have to have one? Hell no! You can drill right through the foil into the cork with your corkscrew. Many bottles have a small attached piece of the foil that you can pull on like a thread until the top part is removed. Many more now have screw-off caps (more on that in another post). But for ease of use and the aesthetics of the moment, pick up one of these.
Now your bottle is open, you’ve had a glass or two, but for some reason, decide not to finish it. You need a stopper. These also come in different sizes, shapes, colors and styles. My favorites are the rubber style like the ones in the center below. They give a nice seal and have a filter for pouring and avoiding pieces of cork and sediment at the bottom of the bottle.
How do you serve and keep your wine at the right temperature (right for you)? I won’t get into the recommended temperature for serving and storing various types of wine. I will share the truism that most Americans drink their white wines too cold and their red wines too warm. My cellar temperature is fine for my reds, while my refrigerator is fine for most of my whites.
But what about keeping the wines at a good serving temperature. I used to use ice buckets or coolers full of ice for large parties (and beer). However, I now use the chillers shown below exclusively for wine. They can get a white wine from room temperature to serving temperature in about five minutes or keep it cold for at least 30-45 minutes. For most red wines, sitting at room temperature for awhile, a minute or so in the chiller and it is cellar temperature again. Chillers for your wine are around $10 and are well-worth the investment…
There are many other cool gadgets and accessories I could have written about, but hey this isolation might go on a long time, so another time. Until then…
Cheers! Stay safe.
Coming Attractions
- Staying Sane in the Time of Corona
- An updated list of some wine lovers resources
- Another pairing of binge-worthy TV & Wine
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