There are several wine and bar accessories that are “must haves” for the wine lover. Tools can make or break a bartender, especially when it comes to serving wine. Whether you are a home entertainer or a bartender, then you will want to have the right tools for serving wine the proper way.

The most important part of a bar is the appropriate glassware. If you are going to be serving wine you will need at the very minimum a good all-purpose wine glass. There are glasses for every type of wine and each type compliments the wine in its own unique way. If you enjoy a particular type of wine, then you may find that you would rather have a few glasses for those particular types of wine. There are a few basics that need to be considered when choosing wine glasses:

• Clean: Even the slightest amount of soap will contaminate the wine.
• Clear: True wine enthusiasts will need to see the wine, so don’t buy colored glasses.
• Thin: The thinner the better. Rolled rims will make the wine “dribble” when you drink.
• Stemmed: The stem allows the drinker to not have to hold the bowl of the glass. Holding the bowl will cause your wine to become warm.
• Tapered: The bowl of the glass should narrow at the rim, this helps to prevent spilling during your swirl, as well as capture the aromas of the wine.

The next tool that is very important is the wine key or corkscrew. There are several different styles of corkscrews on the market, but some of the easiest to use are the “rabbit corkscrews” with two levers that grip the bottle and the third pulls the cork out. These are very easy and you get a clean cork every time you use it. The lever-type corkscrew is also very useful. These have a knife to cut the foil of the bottle and the “worm” unfolds off the corkscrew, like a pocketknife, and you just twist in the worm and use the lever action to pull the cork out. The worm is the twisted piece of metal that you twist into the cork. Be careful with either type of corkscrew so you don’t end up with cork in your wine. Also, you will want to cut the foil off the top of the bottle far enough down so that the wine doesn’t run over the foil.

A foil cutter is also a handy little tool. They make cutting the foil so much easier and you don’t have to worry about a knife slipping and you cutting yourself.

A wine decanter is used to let the wine breathe. This means that you are exposing the wine to air to soften the tannins or to remove sediment from aged wine. Generally, your aged red wines will benefit from decanting, but not all wines will benefit. Decanters come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are beautiful pieces of blown glass art. If a wine is to tannic to drink, it will most likely benefit from being decanted. Wines do not breathe well in the bottle because the neck is too small to allow enough air into the bottle. If you want a wine to breathe, it must be decanted.

If you need to store wine, you have a few choices. The first is a wine refrigerator. These are handy if you don’t have your own cellar or the ideal temperature for wine. They are about the size of a fifteen-inch computer monitor and can hold six to twenty bottles of wine depending on the size of the unit.

If you do have a room with the appropriate temperature for wine then you will benefit from a wine rack in your home. They come in a variety of sizes and you can buy one to fit your needs. They also come in a variety of materials such as metal or wood. Be sure that the rack is not made of wood that will warp, especially if you live in a humid climate. You also want to keep the wine out of direct sunlight. Many restaurants have wine racks in which the bottles are stacked on top of each other. You should be very careful when moving bottles around in these racks as they may slip out or be squeezed out by the weight of the other bottles.

Being properly prepared to serve wine is essential. There is nothing worse than having to dig around for an old corkscrew when you’re trying to serve wine at a dinner party. Worse yet is having an old screw and it takes two muscular men just to get the cork out. Spend some time shopping and selecting the best tools that suit your needs and you will be able to successfully serve wine whenever you please.