Top GT Tips...

When Wine Meets Accessory…

With wine comes great responsibility - here are 10 tips on how to use your accessories to help you drink responsibly.

1. Glass is key

Crystal or glass, cut or smooth shape, size and colour. You know what you like. However when drinking responsibly our number one tip is to use a tasting glass. A recognised industry tasting glass (ISO) is perfect, because it has been specifically formed to bring out the qualities in a wine for assessment. You can use it for red, white, rosé and sparkling wines - even port and sherry. Because of the size of the tasting glass you’ll instinctively pour a little less. While you’re at it give your wine a swirl and sniff then sip lingering over the flavours. The longer you leave the wine in the glass the more it will develop in contact with the air, you will notice different aromas and flavours with every sip

Best used when you’re trying to drink a little less. Good for all types of wine.

2. Save the Last Drop

So now you’ve become accustomed to drinking a little less wine you may notice that the bottle is now half full! What to do with the rest, we don’t recommend pouring perfectly good wine down the sink, our second tip is a little less brutal. Save it! Vacuum pumps and stoppers offer a simple and reliable solution for this. Effectively they suck oxygen out of the bottle leaving the wine in a resealed protected environment, preserving its quality for at least a week.

Best used when; when you have some wine left over

3. Buy Now Drink Later

We all know a cellar is the ideal place for lying down wine, however if you don’t have the space or want to share your wine with spiders! Our third tip is to invest in a good quality racking system. Pine rack kits are excellent for this, you can adapt them to fit into any area of your home (an alcove/under the stairs), leave them natural or paint them any colour you want. They are relatively low cost and easy to assemble.

Best used when; space is an issue

4. It’s not a tug of war

Insert corkscrew, twist and twist and twist and twist – steady! Hold the bottle by the neck, clinch it between your thighs…just get a good grip and pull, as hard as you can and prey the cork doesn’t break. Have you been there and done that? Most of us have at some point or another. The corkscrew has come a very long way since its suggested invention in 1600’s. Our forth tip is to invest in a good quality corkscrew, one that allows you to open the bottle simply, delicately and with ease. The lever action types in our opinion are a force not to be reckoned with – a must have.

Best used when; when you can’t afford a Bentley, you’re to old to play tug of war or having the best is the only issue

5. Duck and cover

Not any more. Cowering, ducking and hiding behind the person in front of you, broken glass and black eyes can all be associated with the darker side of opening a bottle of Champagne. When it comes to cowering you know the person we’re talking about, there’s always one! (It may even be you…maybe!) Our fifth tip is to use a cork catcher, it’s a simple device suitable for Champagne and sparkling wine it simply catches the cork for you so no more flying corks. That person we’re talking about will think you are a hero.

Best used when; the duck and cover person is coming to dinner, or the duck and cover person decides they want to open the bottle – you can protect your prized possessions!

6. I only want one!

There are occasions when we really do feel like having just one glass of wine. Trouble is you don’t want to have to spoil or be tempted to drink a half/whole bottle of wine to have it. But that’s not the real problem, the real problem is that you can never find a decent half bottle that you want to drink. The solution – tip number 6. Pour and store with Private Preserve. You can buy the good bottle of wine that you really want, pour a glass then spray Private Preserve (essentially its pure air with no oxygen) into the bottle and re-cork. With Private Preserve you can preserve re-corked wine for months. Then open and re-cork again when you feel like having one more glass.

Best used when; you really do feel like one glass or you want to have a cheeky taste of the good stuff before anyone else – well you do need check it’s quality!

7. Forget me knot

Just when you thought a lasting relationship was on the cards, you went and forgot the name. However you want to have a second encounter – see if the second time round will be as good as the first, so there’s no way round it, you have to go back. You’re back at the merchant were you first met, but you can’t see it, so you ask but you can’t remember what it looks likes. I think it had a purple label you hear yourself say to the assistant. Been there? Maybe - if your honest, Tip number 7 is to save yourself the hassle and invest in a wine journal better still a label saver or both. Record and or keep organized notes of all your great wine encounters.

Best used when; you’re not ready to forget

8. To hot to handle, to cold to hold

Temperature, temperature, temperature. Cool but not cold for whites/rosé, room temperature for reds. Don’t worry about it tip number 8, invest in a wine/cellar thermometer. Good ones come with temperature instructions so you can serve wine at the correct temperature every time. You can also combine them with other cooling or warming products, like a cooling sleeve or warming sleeve these rapidly bring wine to the correct serving temperature and can be used over again.

Best used when; serving wine at the right temperature is important (it always is!)

9. Keep on shining

The great cleaning debate, how to keep your stemware sparkling. Whatever you decide works best for you – be it a bit of detergent, soapy or plain old hot water. Our ninth tip to help you keep your stemware shiny is to use a cleaning cloth. Microfibre crystal cloths are great for cleaning and drying stemware without scratching. Team with a good bottle (decanter) cleaner - these are often reusable, just add a few of the pellets to the bottom of your decanter to remove any left over wine from those hard to reach places.

Best used when; dull grey stemware isn’t an option or you have a beautiful but awkwardly shaped (for cleaning) decanter

10. Share your passion

Don’t keep your appreciation of wine a secret share your passion, our tenth and final tip is to give and get given. Attend wine tastings and take friends along. Or throw/host your own wine tasting, make it fun and have a blind tasting – makes a great dinner party game, offer the winner a small prize – wine related of course! There are some great tools and resources out there to help you with this. Blind tasting covers, spittoons and tasting glasses are just the basics plus something to record your findings. These are just a couple of ways to share your passion in a fun way.