Wine Paraphenalia, Old and New

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Sedimental

Sedimental

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Feb 19, 2015
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​After toying with the idea of starting this thread for some time, Christmas shopping finally gave me the impetus to put thought into action.

People who love drinking wine invariably acquire or collect paraphernalia that enhances their wine drinking experience.

Be it that trusty antique corkscrew, fanciful crystal stemware or the latest Wine App who doesn't love the ceremony and art and science of wine drinking.

Whether you're a BBQ imbiber or connoisseur collector share with us your wine paraphernalia, the things you love, the things that bemuse, the bargains, the ridiculous and the inventive.

This came into my inbox today so I'll kick off with https://www.vintecclub.com/product/ullo-wine-purifier/
 
I have a trusty Trudea cork remover acquired in 2001 - at a cost of about EUR200 (was in Europe when the Euro was introduced - great times). Vastly expensive at the time (my first real job out of Uni), but has been removing corks quite dependably for 15 years now.

I can't find an image of it online, but this seems to be the current incarnation: https://www.amazon.com/Trudeau-Automatic-Vertical-Lever-Corkscrew/dp/B01M11EUIT/

It has a nifty action, when the first time you depress/raise the lever, it puts the screw into the cork and then pulls the cork out. Repeating the action disgorges the cork from the device. And it looks far more attractive than the similar devices that have two arms that look a bit like a vice-grip on the bottle.
 
I started out with the faithful twin hinge Waiters Friend
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then graduated onto the original Twin Arm Screwpull.
le_creuset_screwpull_LM250_600_metall.gif

It was a trusty stead for many a year. Replaced the screw several times until the metal handle snapped! Waltzed into my local DJs with the fractured apparatus and to their credit Screwpull replaced it with the current plastic handled version which I still have. The whole mechanism is a little suspect though. Bit like an out of balance tyre!
 
I have a similar thing called a Baccarat Simpull. It works well on natural cork and on Diam, but I discovered that the teflon coating on the screw can be stripped by a synthetic cork. Fortunately it came with a spare screw. I haven't seen one of those plastic corks for years now anyway. The Simpull doesn't get much of a workout anymore, as my buying is strongly prejudiced against cork and has been for a good few years now. Actually my favourite piece of paraphernalia is the foil cutter that came with it, which is probably no fancier than similar $1 models from eBay, but somehow very satisfying to use.

I also have a vinturi aerator that I use only on the odd occasion when I'm opening something that I know from experience is a bit "closed" unless given a chance to breathe. I don't even have a decanter because I would usually neglect to employ it in good time anyway.

However, big glasses rule. It's good if your nose can get inside the glass and even better (for cleaning convenience) if your fist can. More to the point, it's convenient if your glass is effectively a decanter (for aeration purposes), providing a big surface area of wine to the air. I prefer stemless glasses for the simple fact that they are a lot more difficult to knock over if you find yourself a little clumsy (ahem) after having emptied them. Cleaning up broken glass is a drag.

I don't have anything like that Ullo for removing sediment except the little tea-strainer insert that comes with the vinturi aerator. Occasionally I use that if the lees are very plentiful, but in general I don't mind a little bit of substance if the winemaker chose not to filter it out in the first place. Nor do I mind sulphite crystals, whose impact is purely visual as far as I can tell.
 
rhodges said:
I have a similar thing called a Baccarat Simpull. It works well on natural cork and on Diam, but I discovered that the teflon coating on the screw can be stripped by a synthetic cork. Fortunately it came with a spare screw. I haven't seen one of those plastic corks for years now anyway. The Simpull doesn't get much of a workout anymore, as my buying is strongly prejudiced against cork and has been for a good few years now. Actually my favourite piece of paraphernalia is the foil cutter that came with it, which is probably no fancier than similar $1 models from eBay, but somehow very satisfying to use.

I also have a vinturi aerator that I use only on the odd occasion when I'm opening something that I know from experience is a bit "closed" unless given a chance to breathe. I don't even have a decanter because I would usually neglect to employ it in good time anyway.

However, big glasses rule. It's good if your nose can get inside the glass and even better (for cleaning convenience) if your fist can. More to the point, it's convenient if your glass is effectively a decanter (for aeration purposes), providing a big surface area of wine to the air. I prefer stemless glasses for the simple fact that they are a lot more difficult to knock over if you find yourself a little clumsy (ahem) after having emptied them. Cleaning up broken glass is a drag.

I don't have anything like that Ullo for removing sediment except the little tea-strainer insert that comes with the vinturi aerator. Occasionally I use that if the lees are very plentiful, but in general I don't mind a little bit of substance if the winemaker chose not to filter it out in the first place. Nor do I mind sulphite crystals, whose impact is purely visual as far as I can tell.
Click to expand...

I can relate to many of your comments!

I like big glasses too, though I do occasionally use a Venturi type aerator. I was given a set of 4 Riedel stemless large red wine glasses for my birthday a few years ago and never used them until about 12 months ago, as I thought they were nothing more than glorified water glasses! I am now a convert for exactly the reason you mentioned ... They are much harder to knock over!

Sediment in wine, including sulphite crystals, doesn't tend to worry me either.
 
I think you'll find the crystals are more likely to be tartrate crystal.

As for that Vintec thing removing free sulfites...what a crock. Sulfites have no taste, yet Vintec tells me they are bitter.

Personally, as for gadgets, I use either a double hinged waiters friend for corks in good condition or a Durand for anything suspect.
 
Waiters friend type cork remover, circa 1971, given on completion of a wine education course in Melbourne that year, supposedly the course designed by Len Evans during his days at the Australian Wine Bureau.
20170207_194101.jpg
 
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Any point in keeping the wooden boxes some wines come in? Is there any value in them?
I have an original Meshach box and Command box from when I bought a 6 pack.
cheers
 
unfunkable said:
Any point in keeping the wooden boxes some wines come in? Is there any value in them?
I have an original Meshach box and Command box from when I bought a 6 pack.
cheers
Click to expand...

Perfect size for storing vinyl records!
 
unfunkable said:
Any point in keeping the wooden boxes some wines come in? Is there any value in them?
I have an original Meshach box and Command box from when I bought a 6 pack.
cheers
Click to expand...

I use some for storage. I've seen people take them apart turn them into cheese boards.

As for value, I'm sure someone would pay something for them somewhere. Probably not worth the effort though. Kindling perhaps?
 
Daver6 said:
I use some for storage. I've seen people take them apart turn them into cheese boards.

As for value, I'm sure someone would pay something for them somewhere. Probably not worth the effort though. Kindling perhaps?
Click to expand...

I've seen them advertised on eBay for $20/box etc. My flatmate uses them as bookshelves. I'm turning mine into a table top
 
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