Wine is more than an alcoholic beverage. It’s almost a way of life! There are more wine accessories available than you could even imagine. From the necessities like corkscrews and glasses, to the not so necessary yet entertaining accessories like decanters, ice buckets, and pourers- there is more to wine than just drinking it.

Corkscrews & Openers

While there are hundreds of varieties of corkscrews, they all work in basically the same fashion. You screw one end directly into the center of the wine’s cork, and use a handle to life the cork out of the bottle in order to enjoy your bottle of wine.

If you want something other than a corkscrew, you can find another style of opener that uses cartridges to “pop” the cork out of the bottle. The pop style openers tend to be a little more expensive than the traditional corkscrew, but image is everything when it comes to wine, and a specialty opener may be just the extra accessory you need for your dinner parties or restaurant atmosphere.

Decanters

Decanters are glass bottles with special shapes designed to encourage the heightening of wine flavors when you store your open wine in them. They also make for a nice presentation when you place the decanter on the table.

There are literally countless different shapes and styles that decanters come in. Many resemble a glass flower vase. Certain wines should be placed in specific shapes of wine decanters in order to enhance the flavor of the wine to the fullest extent. Others can be stored in any of the fancy decanters.

For an incredible display, you could find a decanter with it’s own base unit. These are highly stylish, and often hold the decanter at an angle, and suspended over the table.

Some decanters come with glass ball stoppers to be placed on the opening of the bottle in order to keep the freshness in when the wine is stored. Air can have damaging effects to the properties of wine, and so it’s usually best to keep open wine in an airtight container.

Additionally, some decanters are able to remove sediments from older wine and aerate younger wines to further enhance their flavors.

Decanters are certainly not necessary to drinking wine (you can place the cork back in the bottle of a wine to keep the air out when you’re not pouring the wine) but they certainly make for a nicer presentation and can actually help the overall flavor of the wine.

Wine Racks

Where do you store your wine bottles? If you’re like most people, you keep them in one of your kitchen cabinets until you’re ready to use them, or maybe in the basement. If you drink wine often, however, you would probably enjoy having an elegant and functional wine rack in the kitchen or dining room that is designed to display and hold your wine bottles, glasses, and accessories.

Some wine racks are mounted to overhead cabinet space, so that the bottles are placed lying down inside them, while the glasses hang from their stems. These are perfect for kitchens with decent space under their overhead cabinets. If you don’t have the room for this style of wine rack, there are wine racks that sit directly on the counter, and hold the bottles at arms reach.

If your kitchen simply doesn’t have the space on the counter top or under the overhead cabinets for these styles, you can enjoy a wine rack that stands alone. These often have small base units, sometimes refrigerated, as well as space for glasses and accessories. They take up more floor space, but can really dress up a dining area.

One of the biggest arguments among wine lovers is not Red vs. White, or French wine vs. California wine. One of the biggest arguments that you'll hear among wine lovers is natural cork vs. screw caps. That's right... whether or not wine bottles should be sealed with traditional cork stoppers, or with screw caps. Each method of sealing the wine bottle has it's good points and it's bad points.

Traditional corks are under attack, mostly for the reason that they could allow the wine to become "corked". That is, the wine reacts with a substance called trichloroanisole. This substance is formed when the chlorine, which is used to sanitize the cork, reacts with a mold that grows in some cork. Trichloranisole, or TCA, causes a musty odor, and a flat, moldy flavor. An estimated 5-10% of wines on merchant shelves are "corked".

Natural corks are also not always easy to remove from the bottle. With the old spiral corkscrew, you have to put it in the cork just right, and not screw it in too far. And even if you get the corkscrew into the cork just right, pieces of the cork do crumble into the wine.

That isn't to say that cork stoppers are bad. They do allow the wine to breathe a bit. Their porous nature allows oxygen into the bottle, and other gases out. Some experts say that this is what allows wine to age. Others, however, claim that it is the compounds in the wine that allow aging. One of the other good things about natural corks, is the satisfying "pop" as it comes out of the bottle. A screw cap can't compare with the drama and romance of popping a cork out of the neck of the bottle.

You may have also seen synthetic corks in some bottles of wine. These stoppers, instead of being made from natural cork bark, are made from plastic. Synthetic corks are even harder to get out of the bottle than natural corks, and near impossible to put back into the bottle, if you need to put the bottle away after opening. Synthetic corks have also been known to allow the wine to oxidize, which causes flatness in the wine. It takes away some of the chemicals that form an important part of the wine aroma.

Screw caps, on the other hand, seem to be the perfect solution for sealing a bottle of wine. Screw caps don't allow the wine to become "corked", like natural corks. They're easier to remove than both natural and synthetic corks. And they don't allow the wine to oxidize like synthetic corks. There is some argument about whether screw caps allow the wine to age, like a natural cork does. Since aging a bottle of wine may take 5-50 years, and the screw cap is a relatively recent development, it will take some time to determine whether or not the wine will age as well.

So, screw caps make a good seal for a bottle of wine. But they do have the big drawback of not being as dramatic as a cork. Close your eyes for a moment, and imaging going to a fancy restaurant for a romantic dinner with your spouse. The waiter brings out a bottle of the most expensive wine, then unscrews a bottle cap. It just doesn't have the flair of pulling a cork.

In the future it's likely that you'll see more and more wine being sealed with a screw cap than with a cork. Personally, the advantages seem to be in favor of the screw cap. But with proper storage, a good bottle of wine can liven up a party or meal, no matter whether it's sealed with a cap or a cork.

When it comes to gift giving, your simple solution is visiting gift basket stores online. Take the guesswork out of buying a present for anyone or any occasion. With gift baskets, your options are almost infinite. Themed selections range from baby shower gifts to wedding gifts and even retirement gifts. Whether it is an assortment of useful bibs, foods and toys for the baby shower, or wine and cheese for an anniversary present, your gift will always be warmly received because of its timely and useful attributes. Gift basket stores often create unique and wonderfully assorted baskets with specific themes such as golf balls, tees and towels for duffers, flowers and candy or wine, wine glasses and a corkscrew.

Whether it is an assortment of useful bibs, foods and toys for the baby shower, or wine and cheese for an anniversary present, your gift will always be warmly received because of its timely and useful attributes. Gift basket stores often create unique and wonderfully assorted baskets with specific themes such as golf balls, tees and towels for duffers, flowers and candy or wine, wine glasses and a corkscrew.

Other basket ideas are coffee, romance, birthday and corporate gatherings. Easy to find and commonly offered by online stores are get well gift baskets. You can also find baskets for most every holiday imaginable. It is not difficult to imagine that Valentine's Day is one of the more popular times for giving gift baskets. Flower, teddy bear and candy baskets are the most common on Valentine's Day.

Although romance brings out the giving side of many, the ultimate time of year for gift basket stores is the holiday season. You can expect to see the UPS or FedEx truck stopping time and time again in your neighborhood to deliver a package containing a basket for another unsuspecting but greatly appreciative recipient. Holiday gift baskets range widely in size as well as content. Popular baskets with a holiday theme may contain chocolates and mints, multiple flavored popcorn tins, wine, cheese and crackers or the hugely popular gourmet food basket with meats, cheese spreads, luscious candy, mustard and small sandwich breads.

You may have noticed that there are no lists of online gift basket stores in this article. This is because the main purpose of the article is to bring to your attention a simpler answer to coping with shopping for gifts. Gift baskets are not the end all answer to giving presents, but they can certainly eliminate a lot of stress because of their availability and extremely large range of selections. And remember, these gifts are practical. That is flowers brighten any home or office, theme baskets are useful because they fit the receivers lifestyle and food baskets with candy, meats and cheeses can be enjoyed by most anyone.

So, reconsider spending your valuable time and minimize the stress of shopping. You can find something of interest for all your special occasions that is suitable to the event at hand. Checkout the many options and wide variety of selections available at online gift basket stores.

Your bar deserves the same attention to your décor as any other room would. And since your bar is a place to relax and unwind are you ready for that trendy barware that will help set the mood?

1. Corkscrews
Don't underestimate the power of a corkscrew. It's more than just a plug. Your corkscrew can have a mix of functionality and décor with so many styles to choose from pick a theme or a pattern that's trendy and fun.

2. Glasses
You've got to have matching glasses for those party drinks. It's an essential. Your bar should have 6 good wine glasses, 6 solid rocks, 6 highball glasses, 6 Champagnes, and 6 beer glasses. Make sure they liven up the party.

3. Coasters
Are an important part of your barware that is often overlooked. And they are a great way to add a little color and fun to your bar décor. There are plenty of choices and you have to spend very little to get a great effect. Add a little art to your room.

4. Beer Glasses
Every bar has got to have at least 6 beer glasses. The Pilsner glasses are the best and always appreciated but there are certainly plenty of other choices out there.

5. Martini Glasses
Think modern cosmopolitan and consider it essential to your bar décor. They'll look great and your martinis will suddenly take on an entirely new flavor. Consider retro polka dots to really make an outstanding statement.

6. Sangria Set
Every bar should have Sangria set. The tall slim pitchers usually hold around 70 ounces of fluid and it should have 4 to 8 glasses. Choose something funky. Art glass is a great choice or perhaps something with a seasonal flare like polka dots or stripes. Consider vibrant color.

7. Stir Sticks
If you want a bar addition that's affordable but makes a big statement choose your stir sticks well. There are some great designs and styles to pick from and there are even art glass sticks which are very trendy. Check out the Mexican choices with the wonderful glass fruit tops. Will that be bananas, cherries, or kiwis?

8. Serving Pitchers
Every bar should have at least a couple of pitchers after all you never know what you might be serving. A beer pitcher is also handy. Choose hand blown glass, etched glass, bubble glass, or any of the other fun and funky glass options.

9. Shot Glasses
When stocking a bar shot glasses are often overlooked. Too bad because there's nothing more fun than a shot party and with so many great glass choices you can definitely add some pizzazz to that bar!

10. Racks
Racks are important to keeping your barware organized and they can also make a terrific décor statement. Classic wood looks great and you can mount the racks to fit with your overall room.

Your bar says a lot about you and your tastes. Don't go lame and cheap. You don't want to be the talk of the town for your poor taste do you? Instead do a little shopping and find trendy barware that will have them talking about what a classy host you are!

If you want to make money at home working only a few hours a week, start a wine tasting business. This little-known home business is thoroughly enjoyable and packs a wallop when it comes to earning money. The kind of money you can make is up to you. But, consider this - for just 4 hours a week, you can bring home about US$31,200 a year. If you double your hours, you can double that take-home pay.

Here are three steps to help you make money in this home-based business:

1) Getting Started

Before you get started, check out the possibilities for wine tastings in your area. Wine tastings are usually held on weekends in private homes and clubs and at special events everywhere. They are seldom held in a restaurant. The host organizes the tasting and pays you for your service.

The current rates are $150 an hour for parties up to 20 people. Over that number, rates are negotiable. For large parties you may need to hire helpers. Include the amount you pay them in your hourly rate.

Advertise your business in the local paper. Pay a visit to clubs such as the Kiwanis Club and country clubs in your area. Be sure to speak to the manager and leave your brochure. Teach an adult education class about wine. Air a radio ad at night on the local stations.

2) On the Job

Prepare for the tasting by meeting with the host. He or she supplies the wine, food and glasses. The host also arranges for the white tablecloths, small paper spitting cups for the guests and several urns to empty the cups into.

For 20 guests, there should be about 30 bottles of wine. This includes six different types of wine with five bottles of each type.

For a party of up to 20 guests, you can work from a long table and have the guests seated opposite you. For larger groups, the host should set up tables.

During the tasting, guests sample a particular wine from their glass. Fill the glass a quarter to a third full. Guests tip the glass away from them and examine the wine’s color against the white tablecloth. They sniff the wine’s aroma, take a sip and swirl it around in their mouth before spitting it into their paper cup. They then empty the cup into an urn.

Talk about the wine and where it comes from. Bring various corkscrews with you to show guests. Demonstrate how to decant wine with a decanter and candle.

3) After the Wine Tasting

Following the wine tasting, allow for questions. Here are some common questions followed by answers:

Q: What makes red wine red?
A: Red wine includes the skins, seeds and stems of the grape which turn the wine red.

Q: Why do you decant wine?
A: To check that the wine is clear and without settled particles.

Q: How can you tell a good corkscrew?
A: The most important part of the corkscrew is the “worm” or spiral. The worm should be hollow and have 4-5 spirals. The deeper the worm enters the cork the less likely it will break.

Q: Which is the most expensive corkscrew?
A: One made by Forge de Laguiole of France is the best. It lasts the longest but costs $150 to $190.

Q: Why are they using screwcaps today instead of corks?
A: Screwcaps shut oxygen out of the wine which is what you want because oxygen causes wine to spoil.

Q: Why is aged wine better?
Aging wine dulls the fruity flavor and leaves a more earthy tasting wine. At least 95% of wine does not need to be aged.

Q: Which wines go with which food?
A:
Port is a heavy wine and goes well with dessert or alone. Merlot is a light wine and is delicious with a meal of chicken and salad. Cabernet is a little heavier than Merlot and goes well with steak, lamb, and pork. Pinot noir is a very light wine and is excellent with turkey, chicken, and duck. Beaujolais is a fruity, light wine and is good with fowl or dessert or alone.

Once word gets out about your wine tasting business, you may find yourself booked for many weekends. Start a wine tasting business now - before everyone else finds out how much fun it is and the amount of money you can make.

Wine Food Pairings make most of us nervous just thinking about it, but wait, someone just threw a monkey wrench (or should I say corkscrew!) into the mix!

Many wineries, in fact almost 90% of them in New Zealand have turned away from the prestigious cork to stopper up our favorite beverage and have turned instead to “screw” tops. HOLY COW! What’s going on? In the past, only the REALLY super economical (cheap) wines were sealed that way…..and we all know they gave us a headache in the morning!

If you think about it, how many times have you been served wine that is “corked”? Statistics say that between 2% and 8% of the wines that are sealed with a cork has that delightful moldy, kind of like wet cardboard taste and smell? The cause of cork taint is a mystery and is supposed to be harmless, but who wants to drink it? In addition, what food do you “pair” it with? I don’t think you’ll find any wine food pairing chart giving advice on that!

The screw tops of today are highly engineered pieces of metal that seem to do the job of preserving wine quite nicely. Basically, you want the wine to stay in the bottle and to seal out the air so no oxidation occurs. We Americans will just have to “get over” our prejudices on screw tops.

OK, just when you think it’s alright to unscrew a bottle of your favorite vino, I hear the sound of a POP…. But wait it’s not a cork…it’s a ZORK….what the heck is that you ask? Apparently, the Australians have been busily designing a new wine stopper. YIKES! It has the same airtight seal of a screw top and doesn’t even require a corkscrew…..which you can’t locate when you need it anyway! It is opened with just your hands and it easily goes back into the bottle to keep your wine fresh…….and guess what? It “POPS”! What more do you want?

Well, the WWF, formerly the Worldwide Fund for Nature, is lobbying the wine industry to continue with the cork stoppers, stating that the renewable source of cork, if not used will threaten one of the most important wildlife habitats. The environmentalists argue that the demise of the Mediterranean cork oak forests will endanger the Iberian lynx, the Barbary deer, the black vulture and the imperial Iberian eagle. "The cork oak forests could face an economic and environmental crisis unless we take action to secure their future now," said Rebecca May, WWF's forests campaigner. It is vital that the wine and cork industries maintain the market for cork stoppers and in turn help ensure the survival of the cork oak forests," she said.

The future should be interesting for the wine “sealing” industry….who would have thought that we, as wine consumers, would face such a serious dilemma? Cork, Zork or screw top…..CHEERS!

You have decided to join the ranks of millions and become a wine enthusiast. You might be wondering to yourself what this entails exactly, and what sorts of gadgets and gizmos are you going to need to properly enjoy your wine. To be honest, there are few accessories that a person absolutely needs to enjoy their wine.

The first of the more important wine accessories is a bottle opener or corkscrew. There are many kinds of wine bottle openers on the market today. The most common corkscrews that people know about are either the winged style or waiter’s friends (sometimes called a wine key). A winged style looks exactly like the name states; it has a lever on each side that will rise when the center screw is inserted into the cork of a bottle. To remove the cork, the wings are lowered causing the screw and attached cork to rise with it and be removed from the bottle. A wine key is smaller and uses a single lever positioned onto the side of the bottle to provide leverage to remove the cork from the bottle. Both types of corkscrews are rather easy to find and usually start out selling for around $5.00. These openers in most cases can cause a cork to break in half if not pulled out correctly, or if the screw is not centered though the cork.

Lever pull corkscrews tend to be more expensive than winged or waiter’s friends, however, they are usually more user friendly. Ranging from $20.00 to $80.00, most lever models are designed with a clamp to hold the neck of the bottle in the corkscrew for ease of handling. Typically, the lever arm swings over the top and extracts the cork in a few very easy movements; ensuring removal is quick and effortless.

There is, however, another type of corkscrew that appeals to those looking for an effective and easy to use corkscrew but also one that is not overly expensive. Selling for roughly $15.00, the Vacuvin style corkscrew is my pick. Made from a heavy grade plastic, the Vacuvin opener is easy to use and only involves two steps: placing the opener on the bottle of wine and twisting the handle until the cork is released. This opener does not require a user to have super human strength, and I have yet to have a cork break during opening. The main reason the cork does not break is because the screw completely removes the cork from the bottle for you, there is no need to pull on the opener to remove the cork like some corkscrews require.

Once you have your bottle of wine open, the second must have accessory are wine glasses. Most people believe that there are certain glasses for certain wines; this is not necessarily the case. Usually a larger, broader bowl style wine glass is used for red wines with bigger bouquets, and smaller glasses for white wines to help concentrate the more subtle aromas. However, if space or budget are limiting you to one type of glass, many companies nowadays manufacture universal style glasses which are suitable to both red and white wine, and are inexpensive and attractively designed.

Another must have accessory for your collection is a wine stopper. Bottle stoppers come in a variety of colors, styles, and finishes to fit every taste and personality. Usually solid metal, metal and plastic, or metal and cork, wine stoppers are an excellent way to close an open bottle of wine to preserve it and protect it from air contamination for short periods of time.

A simple bottle stopper however, is not going to protect an open bottle of wine from the air that has already entered the bottle. Air trapped inside the bottle will cause a bottle of wine to expire much quicker than an unopened bottle, which is why I suggest using a vacuum bottle stopper system. A product such as the Vacuvin Concerto Wine Saver can greatly extend the life of an opened bottle of wine compared to a simple bottle stopper. Easy to use and inexpensive, all that a person does is place one of the specially designed bottle stoppers in the open bottle of wine and use the pump to draw the air out of the bottle. When the air is drawn out, the seal of the stopper is so strong the bottle can be held upside down or stored on its side without spilling. Starting at roughly $20.00, this type of bottle stopper is most effective for those looking to store open wine for longer periods of time.

Now you have your opener, glasses and bottle stoppers, what else do you need? A wine rack of course! Wine racks are available in a variety of styles and finishes to compliment any décor. Styles include wall mounted, counter top, hanging and free standing wine racks. Finishes are varied as well and include wood and wrought iron. If interested in learning more about wine racks and what to look for in picking out the perfect rack, my article, “How To Select The Finest Wine Rack For You Home” is quite informative.

The list of wine accessories that are available on the market today can be quite exhausting, however it is important to keep in mind that not all accessories are essential to becoming a wine enthusiast, or simply to enjoy the pleasure of your wine. The most important to remember are the ones essential to drinking and storing a bottle of wine: a bottle opener, glasses, a bottle stopper and a wine rack. Once you have these, the other accessories become fun extras to collect to make your wine experience all the more enjoyable.