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January 4, 2001 Tools of the Trade Let’s start
with the basics. If you’re going to bring a bottle of wine home after
reading any of the reviews on WinoStuff (or any other reputable website or
publication), you’re not going to turn the spigot on one of those box wines.
You’ll need a reliable corkscrew.
The classic corkscrew that you see many waiters use is a knockoff of the
Chateau Laguiole corkscrew. Manufactured
for over five centuries (centuries, what a concept for us Americans!) in Thiers,
France, these are the devices that have a small knife blade on one end for
cutting the foil, a corkscrew worm for the cork, and a leverage bar contoured to
the lip of the bottle. I like these
tools for their all-around, handy-dandy convenience, but I don’t recommend
them for the beginner or for the Wino who likes to quickly open a bottle.
You can buy the original Chateau Laguiole corkscrew for about $90
(handmade with rosewood inlays) or a knockoff for $2.
It doesn’t really matter which you use as long as you get the job done.
If you want to do the job quicker, I would recommend a foil cutter ($2 to
$3) and a screwpull device. The
original screwpull sells for about $20 (#3110 at www.wineenthusiast.com).
It fits over the lip of most bottles and provides a stable base to turn
the Teflon-coated corkscrew. These
two items will do the job. If you
want to get the job done quicker and have an unlimited budget, buy the Estate or
Champion opener (#3146 at www.wineenthusiast.com)
for approximately $99. Ok, Wino Wally,
you’ve spent a paragraph on corkscrews, where is this write-up going?
I could have written more on corkscrews including stories about all the
cheap ones I bought on the fly in a liquor store that worked (and those that
didn’t work). I made a few
recommendations, used a web proprietor’s catalog for samples (and no, I
don’t get freebies from them, but would gladly accept them under the WinoStuff
policy of accepting all freebies), and believe there’s enough variety to get
any novice Wino started. Now that
you’ve got the basics down on opening the bottle of wine, what other equipment
do you need? I think a valuable
piece of equipment for any Wino is the basic Vacu-Vin wine saver system.
The Vacu-Vin allows you to pump out the air in an opened bottle so that
it stays fresh longer. Unlike Wino
John and Wino Bob, I occasionally consume only a glass of wine.
I don’t like opening the more expensive bottles and pouring out the
spoiled wine a few days later, so I use my Vacu-Vin system to keep the wine
fresh until consumed. Basic system
comes with a hand pump and two stoppers for about $14 (#3125 at www.wineenthusiast.com).
I would also add two additional stoppers for about $5.
For those of you who are single, you can use this system when you’re
home alone, but always keep the line about needing to finish the bottle so that
the wine doesn’t spoil (just don’t let them know you have a Vacu-Vin!). Well, I’ve
covered uncorking and recorking the bottle, what about glassware?
If you don’t own any wineglasses, go to a Target, Wal-Mart, or Kmart
and buy a pack of six or twelve. They’re
inexpensive and easily replaced, but are much classier and more practical than
paper cups. If you received some
crystal wine glasses with your wedding china and stemware, use them for the
fancier occasions, but I’d still own some inexpensive glassware that could
hold up at a party and which wouldn’t dent your wallet if someone broke a
glass. For the true aficionado, I
can only recommend Riedel crystal stemware.
Available through a number of proprietors, the Riedel glasses were first
designed by an Austrian engineer who recognized that the size and shape of a
wineglass could influence the bouquet, taste, balance, and finish of the wine.
Riedel Sommelier is the hand blown crystal version ($$$$) and Riedel
Vinum is the less expensive version. If
your favorite wine is a Chardonnay or a Cabernet, buy two of these glasses and
experience the difference. We have a section on racking, so I’m not going to cover bottle storage here, but refer you to that section’s write-up. However, for the basic Wino equipment, there’s two more items that I want to recommend. Both items are designed for consuming wine that has just been purchased from the retailer and has not been stored or chilled at an appropriate serving temperature. The first item is a rapid chill cooler. Brookstone sells one that I recommend (approximately $24). Another good product is the Vacu-Vin Wine Cooler (#1101 for $10.95 at www.wineenthusiast.com). Slip a bottle of wine into either of these products and your bottle will be chilled in 5 to 10 minutes. The last item is something that you will find just about anywhere. I’m referring to plastic cubes with distilled water that you keep in your freezer. My wife and I use these to keep a Chardonnay pleasantly chilled while outside in the summer without having the dilutive effect of regular ice cubes. We buy the decorative cubes in shapes of fruits and fish and keep a supply to share with any guests who come over. This latter item won’t make the list of Sommelier Magazine’s recommended tools, but I highly recommend it for wine consumption in warmer climates.
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