Are wine accessories necessary?

Although not specifically essential, using accessories IS very helpful.

It's like having to go to the city centre – you can do it in a Citroën 2CV or in a Ferrari. Both will get you to your destination, but the Ferrari will do so faster and in more style.

It's a bit like that with wine service accessories. De-corking and serving wine can be done with a white cloth and a two-step (or waiter’s) corkscrew. After all, these come with a blade to cut the foil which covers the neck of the bottle, a corkscrew to remove the cork and a step to remove a crown cap from bottles (beer caps). However, what if I have the chance to use a nice foil cutter, a wide variety of corkscrews or a drip collar. The service will surely be a little swankier and my guests will be impressed by the degree of seriousness with which I handle the matter. Also, it will be a topic of conversation in and of itself as I go about explaining what each tool is for.

I always say that in a restaurant it's very comfortable just to have a two-step corkscrew and a clean white cloth. Let's not forget, service personnel have to stand for many hours at a time, wearing aprons with small pockets. What they want least is to be loaded down, nor do they fancy carrying around lots of objects which can be lost easily. But at home, things are different. We've got drawers designed to hold anything; utensils are put on the table when they are required. Nobody needs to be running around with a corkscrew in their hand and there's space for all the parts to be seen. So, we can appreciate the purpose of each of the accessories designed for serving wines.

Glasses

Of all the accessories, wine glasses are the most widespread. They come in different sizes, materials, designs and, even, colours. We're told each of them has been created with a specific type of wine in mind. What is certain is that the correct type of glass can raise the drinker's degree of satisfaction and mean a certain type of wine is enjoyed even more. For example, we should consider that the mouth (the part in contact with our lips) should be smaller than the rest of the body so the aromas are more concentrated here and easier to recognise. Alternatively, the largest glasses are perfect for the most complex of wines.

Foil cutters

These are tools that come equipped with pull-out blades. Place the blade against the neck of the bottle and press it into the foil while making small turning motions with the bottle to quickly and simply remove the foil and expose the cork, before removing this too.

Corkscrews

Butterfly corkscrew (with 2 arms)

Perhaps the most popular home version, they are practical if a little large. We twist the corkscrew to push it through the cork as the two arms rise. Then, we push down on the arms to release the cork from the bottle easily.

Semi-automatic corkscrew

Its lever system enables corks to be removed quickly and easily, with no great effort.

Electric corkscrew

Just imagine: you attach the corkscrew to the neck of the bottle and press a button. The cork is extracted almost immediately - that's what you get with this type of corkscrew. It is battery powered.

The Butler's Thief

This is the perfect accessory to de-cork old wines as it removes the cork without going through it. Corks that are ten years and older tend to fall apart when they are removed from bottles using a standard corkscrew. By contrast, the Butler's Thief goes around and not through the cork. This is undoubtedly the mothod that requires the most practice, but a true wine lover will master it!

Drip collar

Typically metallic, these collars come with a foam rubber filling. Placing them around the neck of the bottle ensures the labels do not get stained as all the droplets of wine are retained by the collar.

Vacuum pump

Vacuum pumps are very useful to protect de-corked wines. They remove all the air from the bottle and ensure the wine can be kept for several more days in perfect conditions.

Cooler jacket

A wonderful invention which allows us to keep bottles cooler for longer in an easy and practical way. Just leave your flexible cooler jacket in the freezer; then, when you serve a wine that needs to be kept cool, place a jacket around the bottle. Et voilà!

Lau Malbec, sommelier, Bolivia.