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I’ve always been a wine lover, but most of my professional beverage knowledge is in cocktails and spirits (hard job, I know). I’ve been wanting to brush up on my wine education for a while, so I enrolled in the eight-week WSET 2 course after hearing about what a good experience it was from both professional sommeliers and wine enthusiasts. I finally took my test last week and am eagerly awaiting the results.
Short for Wine & Spirit Education Trust, WSET offers educational courses on wine, beer, sake and spirits. Because I already had base-level wine knowledge, I went straight to Level 2, and it’s been an immediate boon to my overall drinking experience. I can now properly decode a wine label (if a red wine reads “Hermitage,” I know it’s Syrah) and have a much better understanding of the world’s most popular and important grape-growing regions (like the soil differences between the Left and Right Banks of Bordeaux).
Does the wine taste better because of my new vinicultural insight? It absolutely does.
Even though I just finished the course, I’ve been drinking (and writing about) wine for a long time. So I have a lot of opinions on the best accessories to help you enjoy it to the max, from bottle storage to the most entertaining way to open bubbles. No matter where you are on your own oenophile journey, I’ve got a way to help you take the next step.
I’m lucky to have a basement floor in my apartment that stays around 60 degrees, even in the summertime. So the temperature of my wine collection is safe, but its storage position is decidedly not: standing upright beneath a rolling rack of clothing. At least, that was its designated place until last week when I acquired this 41-bottle wine fridge, which has been an absolute godsend. Not only does it hold most of my collection, it keeps them temperature-controlled and properly organized, so I’m not aimlessly sifting through bottles when looking for a particular label.
This sommelier-approved decanter aerates wine beautifully and helps keep sediment at bay. It also looks handsome on the table, and at an unbeatable price to boot.
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I’m obsessed with the way these ultra-light wine glasses look and feel. Yes, they are delicate, but they are totally worth the extra care because they’re just that elegant. I’ve broken a few and still keep coming back for more. Plus, the tulip shape, which gives aromas room to develop while directing them toward your nose, makes them perfect for every pour.
$98 for a corkscrew? I admit I was skeptical, as my multitude of free, branded wine keys have opened a copious number of bottles just fine over the years. Then I got my hands on this handy gadget and threw all those inferior models in the trash (literally). The foil knife is angled in such a way that you barely have to apply pressure to remove the capsule, and the ratched swingarm takes the tediousness out of pulling the cork from the bottle. It will also elicit oohs and aahs from your guests, if that’s something you’re into.
Brandishing a blade never gets old. Thankfully, the edge of Craighill’s saber is actually quite dull, so all you have to worry about with this blade is perfectly hitting the seam on a bottle of bubbly to make the cork pop out in dramatic fashion. Designed in collaboration with sommelier and winemaker André Hueston Mack, this beautiful tool features a stainless steel body and unique tortoise acetate handle.
My cellar doesn’t contain cases of decades-old wine, so I don’t have much use for a Coravin. But sometimes I just drink one glass and want the remainder to last in the fridge for a few days, so I spray a bit of this inert gas in the bottle to keep it from oxidizing. It works like a charm.
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