Wine Education Site - B&C Wine Accessories Explained

Wine Accessories

What you must have
what you may want
and what you will never use.

In a misguided moment that lasted 5 years, I owned and operated a mail order wine accessory business. I escaped with my life and little else, except years of experience in evaluating every wine accessory made.

Here are the highlights, every thing you really need to know about wine toys.

(I prefer not to endorse any retailer over another, just know that you can buy any of these from a wine accessory catalog).

Must Have

May Want

Never Use

Corkscrews
Wine Glasses
Decanters
Wine Preservation Systems
Plug in Wine Cellars
Bottle Baskets

Corkscrews
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You have to have a corkscrew to drink wine with a cork.
Screwpulls are the ones I recommend. They run about $25. They are simple and effortless. It has no knife so make sure you get a foil cutter with it (although I usually just pull the foil off, it makes for easy recycling).
The Ah-So, a two bladed cork pull (it doesn't have a screw) is also great, especially with older wines. The Ah-So is not easy to use, but once you are good at it, nothing else will do.
Learn how to use the Ah-So!
Still image page - better for those with slow lines
QuickTime Movie, for those with faster lines, or who want to see the Ah-So in action.
The classic waiter's screw is better than most other alternatives. Look for one with a sharp knife; grooved, long screw and a "floating boot". The lever part is the boot, and if it can slide in a notch, it is the right kind.

The Leverpull from the Screwpull people is awfully nice. If the $150 price tag doesn't scare you away, it is the one to have. I open nearly every bottle of wine at home with one of these.
Estate Openers. These huge contraptions bolt or screw onto a counter where they open bottles of wine at an incredible rate. If you run a busy restaurant, or go through a case of wine a night, you may want one of these. Expect to pay around $150.
Various air pressure openers are intriguing. They have a James Bond look about them and work with quite a flair, when they work. I have never had much luck with them. Either ending up wearing wine, or just not getting the cork out.

My pet peeve in corkscrews are actually one of the most common types. I call them Jumping Jacks. They have two arms that raise as you turn the screw.
This type of corkscrew is probably responsible for more mutilated corks than other other types put together. I would honestly prefer to use a Swiss Army Knife.
The screw on these are too short and too wide, and the handles pull the cork too hard.
Don't confuse these with the excellent Screwpulls which look like a clothes pin that fits on a bottle.

Wine Glasses
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After a way to open a bottle, having something to drink out of is the most important accessory.
Fortunately most wine glasses are good enough.
Make sure the glasses are not frosted, colored or cut, so you can see the wine clearly.
Look for glasses that are more narrow at the mouth then the bowl. Brandy snifters are a surprisingly good wine glass.
Make sure they are not too big (6 oz. is fine, you will only be pouring about 3 oz. at a time).
If you need glasses for wine tasting rather than drinking, make sure that you have many identical glasses. For this the INAO is the world standard, and can be found for around $2 a stem.

While wine can still be enjoyed from the most modest of vessels a fine crystal glass, specifically designed for drinking wine is a pleasure in of itself.
Not everyone wants to spend $25 - $50 for a single wine glass, and fortunately they don't have to, but if it is in your budget the Riedel or similar wine glasses really do make a difference in how the wine tastes.
It is not so much the expensive crystal that makes these glasses so different, rather it is the shape that has been designed with wine tasting in mind. They concentrate the odors of the wine, making it easier to smell, and therefore, taste the wine. Their shapes are specifically designed for different wines; however I find that any one of the shapes works well and can be used universally.

In a pinch anything that doesn't leak can be used as a wine glass.
In a dinner party enviroment you may want to make sure that you have stemmed glassware that all matches.
The stem is important, it keeps the heat of your hands away from the wine, as well as keeping fingerprints off the bowl so you can see the wine clearly.
Make sure the glasses are not frosted, colored or cut, so you can see the wine clearly.

Decanters
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One of the most important accessories for drinking older wine that have accumulated sediment.
If you rarely drink wines with sediment this is not an accessory for you.
Look for a wide bottom and a narrow neck.
You will need a decanting funnel ideally, so the wine will gently pour down the side of the decanter.
Traditionally one uses a candle under the neck of the bottle to illuminate the wine to keep from pouring sediment. In this modern age I use a tiny flashlight, not as hot as a candle.
Expect to pay $100 and up, way up.

Riedel, the producers of ultra expensive wine glasses, surprisingly produce inexpensive decanters.
Decanting cradles are a cute little toy. They hold the bottle as you ever so slowly and carefully pour out the wine and leave the sediment behind. They work, they are cute, they run about $200. A steady hand can do as good a job but it will never get the interest of your guests like one of these will. If you have invested a small fortune in your cellar, and you have a tasting room to show off in, one of these is a must.

Avoid frosted or cut glass or crystal (no matter how expensive). You want to be able to enjoy the beauty of the wine, not have it obstructed by the decanter itself.
A tight fitting stopper is nice, but since you really don't want to leave the wine in there very long, it is not essential.

Preservation Systems
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What to do with wine if you can't finish the bottle is a problem most of us have faced.
The theory is that you want to be able to keep the harmful oxygen away from the remaining wine.
Vacuum pumps are common, inexpensive, and slightly better than nothing.
Disposable nitrogen systems to put your wine on tap are wonderful, but pricey and of late hard to find.
A great and nearly free idea is to keep empty half bottles of wine and old corks around. Make sure the bottle and cork are clean, and then fill the bottle with wine and cork it tightly by hand. Do this with the first half of the wine, and drink what remains in the bottle, you can always go back and drink the other half of the bottle.
The wine will be fine for some time (at least a week) as long as there is very little air left in the bottle.

By far and away the best way to preserve wine (yes I have one of these) is a commercial style nitrogen wine tap system. These are usually found in restaurants, but if you have a spare $1000 (I have a rare single bottle one, only about $300) these are the only way to go.
By placing the bottle of wine on tap as soon as you open it, you ensure that every glass will be perfect, for up to a month. As these units are usually designed for several bottles of wine you can also have a selection on tap to offer to your guests.
I recently saw an ad for a set of decanters that mimics my idea of using half bottles for storage of the extra wine.
These decanters would certainly be a more elegant way to store your left overs, on the other hand my 1959 Haut Brion half bottles look pretty good, even when they are filled with a $10 Cabernet.

The Vacuum pumps (such as Vacu-Vin) have to go in this column as well as the first. They are better than nothing, but just barely.
The concept sounds good, remove the air by pumping it out, therefore removing the risk of dangerous oxygen allowing anything nasty to live in the wine.
The only problem is that you can only pump out so much of the air with these things. Even if you could remove all of the air you would quickly learn what happens to liquids in a vacuum.

Plug In Wine Cellars
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These refrigerator like appliances allow you to create a cellar like environment anywhere. I have had 2 in my living room for years, and for the wine collector who lives without a cellar, these are a must. Expect to pay well over $1000.
Personally I like and have used the Eurocave brand for years. They work by sending the coolant through the sides of the cellar, instead of blowing cold air. On the down side these are the most expensive units you can have.
If you need to store wine for less than 20 years and would rather buy wine than wine toys, store your wine in a camping cooler (or several). These well insulated containers will keep the wine from changing temperature too quickly and will let it age more than adequately.

There is something about walking into a wine cellar, choosing a bottle of wine, uncorking it and serving it, all in the same room. Nothing can take more money out of your wine budget than a cellar.
You need to make sure that your wine ages slowly and for as long as possible, you need temperature control.
Wine Cellar Cooling units are like any air conditioner, other than they are designed to maintain a steady and cooler temperature. The better ones are also careful about drying out the air too much. If you want your cellar to be perfect, make sure you have one of these.
For those without a true cellar, you can get prefab cellars that are free standing that use these same cooling units.

Vibration and light are the hidden enemies of wine. Beware of units that have noisy fans, or clear glass doors.
Multi temperature units are also dubious. They work by the principal that heat rises, so they cool the bottom part of the cellar the most, and the top the least. This means that the temperature through out your cellar is different.
You are better off chilling your wines in a good old fashioned refrigerator, while keeping the rest of your wines at a steady 55F throughout your entire cellar.
Remember that in a pinch a salted bucket of ice water will chill a bottle of wine in about 5 minutes.

Bottle Baskets
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There is no "must have" version of a bottle basket.

There is not even any "may want" versions of these.

I had to try hard to think of something you should avoid out right, but this has to be it. Bottle baskets, or any kind of bottle carrier that holds the bottle horizontally so you can carry and pour.
These things are just plain snotty and useless. The theory is that they are a gentle way to carry a bottle that has sediment.
First and foremost decant bottles with sediment, making this thing useless. Secondly you want to leave bottles with sediment standing up right for some time, to allow the sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle, why then turn the bottle back to horizontal to carry it in this silly basket?

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Must Have	May Want	Never Use
Corkscrews Wine Glasses	Decanters Wine Preservation Systems Plug in Wine Cellars	Bottle Baskets
Corkscrews return to top
You have to have a corkscrew to drink wine with a cork. Screwpulls are the ones I recommend. They run about $25. They are simple and effortless. It has no knife so make sure you get a foil cutter with it (although I usually just pull the foil off, it makes for easy recycling). The Ah-So, a two bladed cork pull (it doesn't have a screw) is also great, especially with older wines. The Ah-So is not easy to use, but once you are good at it, nothing else will do. Learn how to use the Ah-So! Still image page - better for those with slow lines QuickTime Movie, for those with faster lines, or who want to see the Ah-So in action. The classic waiter's screw is better than most other alternatives. Look for one with a sharp knife; grooved, long screw and a "floating boot". The lever part is the boot, and if it can slide in a notch, it is the right kind.	The Leverpull from the Screwpull people is awfully nice. If the $150 price tag doesn't scare you away, it is the one to have. I open nearly every bottle of wine at home with one of these. Estate Openers. These huge contraptions bolt or screw onto a counter where they open bottles of wine at an incredible rate. If you run a busy restaurant, or go through a case of wine a night, you may want one of these. Expect to pay around $150. Various air pressure openers are intriguing. They have a James Bond look about them and work with quite a flair, when they work. I have never had much luck with them. Either ending up wearing wine, or just not getting the cork out.	My pet peeve in corkscrews are actually one of the most common types. I call them Jumping Jacks. They have two arms that raise as you turn the screw. This type of corkscrew is probably responsible for more mutilated corks than other other types put together. I would honestly prefer to use a Swiss Army Knife. The screw on these are too short and too wide, and the handles pull the cork too hard. Don't confuse these with the excellent Screwpulls which look like a clothes pin that fits on a bottle.
Wine Glasses return to top
After a way to open a bottle, having something to drink out of is the most important accessory. Fortunately most wine glasses are good enough. Make sure the glasses are not frosted, colored or cut, so you can see the wine clearly. Look for glasses that are more narrow at the mouth then the bowl. Brandy snifters are a surprisingly good wine glass. Make sure they are not too big (6 oz. is fine, you will only be pouring about 3 oz. at a time). If you need glasses for wine tasting rather than drinking, make sure that you have many identical glasses. For this the INAO is the world standard, and can be found for around $2 a stem.	While wine can still be enjoyed from the most modest of vessels a fine crystal glass, specifically designed for drinking wine is a pleasure in of itself. Not everyone wants to spend $25 - $50 for a single wine glass, and fortunately they don't have to, but if it is in your budget the Riedel or similar wine glasses really do make a difference in how the wine tastes. It is not so much the expensive crystal that makes these glasses so different, rather it is the shape that has been designed with wine tasting in mind. They concentrate the odors of the wine, making it easier to smell, and therefore, taste the wine. Their shapes are specifically designed for different wines; however I find that any one of the shapes works well and can be used universally.	In a pinch anything that doesn't leak can be used as a wine glass. In a dinner party enviroment you may want to make sure that you have stemmed glassware that all matches. The stem is important, it keeps the heat of your hands away from the wine, as well as keeping fingerprints off the bowl so you can see the wine clearly. Make sure the glasses are not frosted, colored or cut, so you can see the wine clearly.
	Decanters return to top
One of the most important accessories for drinking older wine that have accumulated sediment. If you rarely drink wines with sediment this is not an accessory for you. Look for a wide bottom and a narrow neck. You will need a decanting funnel ideally, so the wine will gently pour down the side of the decanter. Traditionally one uses a candle under the neck of the bottle to illuminate the wine to keep from pouring sediment. In this modern age I use a tiny flashlight, not as hot as a candle. Expect to pay $100 and up, way up.	Riedel, the producers of ultra expensive wine glasses, surprisingly produce inexpensive decanters. Decanting cradles are a cute little toy. They hold the bottle as you ever so slowly and carefully pour out the wine and leave the sediment behind. They work, they are cute, they run about $200. A steady hand can do as good a job but it will never get the interest of your guests like one of these will. If you have invested a small fortune in your cellar, and you have a tasting room to show off in, one of these is a must.	Avoid frosted or cut glass or crystal (no matter how expensive). You want to be able to enjoy the beauty of the wine, not have it obstructed by the decanter itself. A tight fitting stopper is nice, but since you really don't want to leave the wine in there very long, it is not essential.
	Preservation Systems return to top
What to do with wine if you can't finish the bottle is a problem most of us have faced. The theory is that you want to be able to keep the harmful oxygen away from the remaining wine. Vacuum pumps are common, inexpensive, and slightly better than nothing. Disposable nitrogen systems to put your wine on tap are wonderful, but pricey and of late hard to find. A great and nearly free idea is to keep empty half bottles of wine and old corks around. Make sure the bottle and cork are clean, and then fill the bottle with wine and cork it tightly by hand. Do this with the first half of the wine, and drink what remains in the bottle, you can always go back and drink the other half of the bottle. The wine will be fine for some time (at least a week) as long as there is very little air left in the bottle.	By far and away the best way to preserve wine (yes I have one of these) is a commercial style nitrogen wine tap system. These are usually found in restaurants, but if you have a spare $1000 (I have a rare single bottle one, only about $300) these are the only way to go. By placing the bottle of wine on tap as soon as you open it, you ensure that every glass will be perfect, for up to a month. As these units are usually designed for several bottles of wine you can also have a selection on tap to offer to your guests. I recently saw an ad for a set of decanters that mimics my idea of using half bottles for storage of the extra wine. These decanters would certainly be a more elegant way to store your left overs, on the other hand my 1959 Haut Brion half bottles look pretty good, even when they are filled with a $10 Cabernet.	The Vacuum pumps (such as Vacu-Vin) have to go in this column as well as the first. They are better than nothing, but just barely. The concept sounds good, remove the air by pumping it out, therefore removing the risk of dangerous oxygen allowing anything nasty to live in the wine. The only problem is that you can only pump out so much of the air with these things. Even if you could remove all of the air you would quickly learn what happens to liquids in a vacuum.
	Plug In Wine Cellars return to top
These refrigerator like appliances allow you to create a cellar like environment anywhere. I have had 2 in my living room for years, and for the wine collector who lives without a cellar, these are a must. Expect to pay well over $1000. Personally I like and have used the Eurocave brand for years. They work by sending the coolant through the sides of the cellar, instead of blowing cold air. On the down side these are the most expensive units you can have. If you need to store wine for less than 20 years and would rather buy wine than wine toys, store your wine in a camping cooler (or several). These well insulated containers will keep the wine from changing temperature too quickly and will let it age more than adequately.	There is something about walking into a wine cellar, choosing a bottle of wine, uncorking it and serving it, all in the same room. Nothing can take more money out of your wine budget than a cellar. You need to make sure that your wine ages slowly and for as long as possible, you need temperature control. Wine Cellar Cooling units are like any air conditioner, other than they are designed to maintain a steady and cooler temperature. The better ones are also careful about drying out the air too much. If you want your cellar to be perfect, make sure you have one of these. For those without a true cellar, you can get prefab cellars that are free standing that use these same cooling units.	Vibration and light are the hidden enemies of wine. Beware of units that have noisy fans, or clear glass doors. Multi temperature units are also dubious. They work by the principal that heat rises, so they cool the bottom part of the cellar the most, and the top the least. This means that the temperature through out your cellar is different. You are better off chilling your wines in a good old fashioned refrigerator, while keeping the rest of your wines at a steady 55F throughout your entire cellar. Remember that in a pinch a salted bucket of ice water will chill a bottle of wine in about 5 minutes.
		Bottle Baskets return to top
There is no "must have" version of a bottle basket.	There is not even any "may want" versions of these.	I had to try hard to think of something you should avoid out right, but this has to be it. Bottle baskets, or any kind of bottle carrier that holds the bottle horizontally so you can carry and pour. These things are just plain snotty and useless. The theory is that they are a gentle way to carry a bottle that has sediment. First and foremost decant bottles with sediment, making this thing useless. Secondly you want to leave bottles with sediment standing up right for some time, to allow the sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle, why then turn the bottle back to horizontal to carry it in this silly basket?