Accessories for hardcore wine enthusiasts(1)
By Sherwin lao
Every wine lover had their share of spoiled wines, broken cork, wrong temperature and other nightmarish experiences that take the pleasure out of wine enjoyment. The good thing is we are living in modern times, and almost all the wine issues, other than poor selection, can be addressed with accessories and gadgets. Other than the crystal wine glasses, which I thoroughly discussed in a previous column, the others below are cool must-haves for the serious wine enthusiasts.
Wine cabinets
A necessity especially for budding wine collectors. Instead of digging and building a cellar, buying a wine cabinet is a lot more convenient. There is major risk of wine prematurely oxidizing if storage temperature is 25ºC or higher. Then there is the question of UV rays. There is also concern with odors and agitation of the wine, which happens when wine is kept in regular refrigerators. A wine cabinet addresses all of these concerns. Wine cabinets use glass protection that are UV resistant. The wine cabinets also do not vibrate unlike those regular refrigerators. The temperature in wine cabinets range from low of 1ºC to 18ºC. There is normally a temperature control setting—some even have two settings. Wine cabinets come in different sizes, and prices. A China-made Haier brand of wine cabinet can cost from as low as P10,000 for a 24 bottle (of 750 ml.) capacity. Big brands like Sub Zero and EuroCave cost multiples more. A Eurocave medium-size wine cabinet with an 81 bottle (of 750 ml.) capacity cost over P100,000 easily, while Sub Zero, because of its integrated design features and customized panelings, can cost up to almost half a million, when fully accessorized. While aesthetics play a big role with the big brands, the cheaper ones available in Automatic center or other appliance stores are honestly good enough. After all, I don’t think the purpose is to keep the wines for the next generation to enjoy.
Wine openers
Breaking a wine cork could be one of the most frustrating things in the world. A perfectly good wine that will have cork droppings is a major crime. You see this often, waitstaffs struggling to open wines with their old tested waiter’s friend corkscrews. Though thankfully, more often than not, a seasoned waitstaff gets to open the wine with ease, there are still times when cork fails to open cleanly, and prevent the dreadful cork droppings from happening. This can be avoided with the use of two nice openers I highly recommend. First, the so called “Rabbit Ear” openers (because of its structural look).
There is a mounted and an unmounted version to this brilliant piece of mechanical ingenuity. The spiral bit (screw) from the rabbit ear penetrates through the cork and pulls the entire cork out in one swift motion. After the wine is opened, the second motion from rabbit ear opener releases the cork.
The other opener I am super impressed with is the Rechargeable Electric Wine Opener from Oster.
This is very convenient and easy to use. It even comes with a foil cutter. After removing the top foil and exposing the cork in the wine, the Oster Electric Wine Opener is simply placed on top of the wine bottle and with two control buttons, the cork is removed hassle free and in seconds. To uncork the wine, the downward button is pressed to force the build-in spiral bit through the cork. The electric opener automatically stops when the cork is completely released from the wine bottle. After this, the upward button is pressed to release the cork from the electric opener. It is a wonderful gadget to show off to your friends. It is slightly noisy, however, with the drilling sound, but the feeling of opening something electronically is still exhilarating. The Oster wine opener is cordless, but needs to be recharged after every 30 bottles of uncorking. You need not sweat it out just to open your favorite wine. I believe rabbit ear wine openers under different brand names are available in Rustan’s department stores. Expect to pay around P5,000 for this type of opener. On the other hand, the Oster Electric Wine Opener is probably not yet available locally. You can ask your local Oster distributor. The Oster wine opener is retailing at around $50 in the States.
Decanters
Decanters have two major functional objectives. One is to breathe young, full-bodied wines, and the other is to remove sediments from old vintaged wines. The first objective is the primary reason why I would use a decanter. I really believe that a lot of wines that are available locally are too young to drink. We get lots of young Bordeaux, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Barossa Shiraz, etc..
