Wine is more than just an alcoholic beverage – it’s almost a way of life! And to enhance the enjoyment of your wine there is a multitude of wine accessories, equipment and gadgets. These range from the necessary items such as corkscrews and glasses, to the wine accessories you need for entertaining like decanters, ice buckets, and pourers. What a choice – there is certainly more to wine than just drinking it!
First up, there are corkscrews and openers and here the choice is huge.
Whilst there is a growing trend to place wine in screw top bottles, the humble cork still plays a major role in securing our wine in the bottle.
Corkscrews all basically operate the same way – you screw one end directly into the center of the wine’s cork and use a lever to gently pull the cork out of the bottle.
That simple principle of cork extraction is expanded if you want something a bit different to a corkscrew. There are also wine bottle openers that use compressed gas cartridges to “pop” the cork out of the bottle. This style of wine opener tends to be a little more expensive than the traditional corkscrew but certainly adds theater to opening a bottle of wine.
Image counts for a lot when it comes to enjoying wine and a specialty opener may be just the extra wine accessory you need for your entertaining.
In a similar manner, decanters are becoming more wide spread in use as a means of showcasing good wine. Wine decanters are glass containers with special shapes designed to highlight the flavor and bouquet of the wine poured into them. They can look extremely elegant when placed on the dinner table, adding atmosphere to your wine enjoyment.
There are literally countless different shapes and styles that decanters come in. Many resemble a glass flower vase. Certain wines should be placed in specific shapes of wine decanters in order to enhance the flavor of the wine to the fullest extent. Others can be stored in any of the fancy decanters.
There are some truly extravagant wine decanters, some having their own base unit which can hold the decanter at an angle, suspended over the table. Other wine decanters have lovely glass ball stoppers which are placed in the opening of the decanter to maintain the freshness of the wine if it is to be stored. As too much air can spoil wine, it is advisable to keep open wine in an airtight container.
As an adjunct to wine decanters, there are filters and aerators. These wine accessories can remove sediments from older wine and aerate younger wines to further enhance their flavors.
Whilst decanters are not essential for drinking and enjoying wine as you can quite readily re-cork the bottle, they provide for a great presentation of your wine and can definitely assist the overall flavor and bouquet of the wine.
Another important item of wine equipment is the wine rack. A lot of people just store their wine in a kitchen cabinet or a cupboard until ready to drink them. However, for regular wine consumers, or those wanting to display their wine and wine accessories, an elegant and functional wine rack could be a great investment.
Wine racks come in many shapes and sizes, but popular approaches include using overhead cabinet space with the bottles lying horizontally and the glasses hanging from their stems. Alternatively, bench top wine racks make for easy access to bottles and stand alone wine racks can provide space for other items, even a wine refrigerator.
In this article we have just touched upon the wide range of wine accessories that are available. You can see a lot of them (at great prices too) in our Wine Shop.
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