Red Wine Utensils

Glasses

When purchasing red wine glasses the first thing to ensure is that the glasses are clear, i.e. not coloured.  You wouldn't be able to check for things like colour and clarity if the glasses were not clear.  Secondly, the glass should hold at least 12 ounces.  Thirdly, the best glasses for red wine would be a thin crystal.

Corkscrews

The Waiter's Corkscrew in my opinion is the best corkscrew.  To use this corkscrew you simply screw into the cork and place the lever on the lip and then push the lever against the lip by way of the handle.

The Screw Pull Corkscrew is another good corkscrew and it can be very useful for those difficult corks.

The Ah-So Corkscrew consists of two metal prongs that go around the ouside of the cork and allow you to twist the cork out of the bottle; rather than pulling it.  This corkscrew works really well with crumbly or corks that are really hard to budge.

Cork Retriever

This little gadget does exactly what is suggested by its name.  They can be tricky to find, but here are some retailers in case you're interested.

Decanter

Many wines require aeration which allow oxygen to mix with them.  Certainly wines that are high in tannin or have sediment in them can benefit from aeration.  Wines that would be higher in tannin would be; Cabernet Sauvignons, Zinfandels, Bordeaux.  Also Barolos or Barbarescos.