There are lots of doohickeys out there that can make your wine-drinking experience more enjoyable. Here are some of the coolest, highest-rated, and most useful gadgets—electric and analogue—for preserving, chilling, transporting, opening, storing, aerating, and protecting your wines.
Coravin Wine Preservation Systems
Options range from $200-$700
Online at coravin.ca
Coravin Timeless is the high-end solution for those who like to save special bottles for years, yet would still like to sip from them on occasion.
The device latches on to the neck and uses a small hollow needle to pierce the cork; after the pour, argon gas is injected into the bottle to preserve what’s left.
The wine left in the bottle will keep for years—if you can wait that long.
It was named one of Oprah’s favourite things in 2022.
Vacu Vin Wine Saver
About $30
Online at vacuvin.com
A more budget-friendly option to preserve wine is the Vacu Vin Wine Saver.
It’s been doing the trick since 1996.
Made in Holland, Vacu Vin uses a pump to extract the air from opened bottles and reseals with a stopper. The design has become sleeker, easier to use, and better at reducing oxidization over the years.
Cooper Cooler
About $100
Online at coopercooler.com
Have you ever had a beverage emergency? People are coming over and you don’t have wine in the fridge… resist the urge to plunk an ice cube in their glasses.
The Cooper Cooler rapid beverage chiller can cool a bottle of wine to the perfect temperature in six minutes. The company says that’s 90 times faster than a fridge and 40 times faster than a freezer.
Insert two trays of ice cubes and a few cups of water, and it will spin the bottle while a jet of cold water pours over it. The device also works on cans.
VinGardeValise
Options from $300 to $500
flywithwine.com
Sipping wine on vacation is one thing. Trying to bring special bottles back home from your travels without them shattering in your luggage is another.
FlyWithWine’s hardshell VinGardeValise suitcases keeps up to 12 bottles of wine in one piece during travel. All of the inserts are removable, so you can mix and match to make room for clothes and toiletries too.
There are three different types of luggage that fit 12, eight, or five bottles.
Secura Electric Wine Opener
About $30
Online at thesecura.com
Struggle to remove corks by hand? Place a Secura rechargeable electric opener on top of your wine bottle, press a button, and it will pop the cork in seconds.
This device fits nicely on a countertop and opens 30 bottles per charge.
It comes in six different colours and costs about $30.
Wine Enthusiast Classic 80 Wine Cellar
Over $1,000
Online at wineenthusiast.com
When your wine collection is valuable enough to warrant proper storage, a freestanding wine cellar is a good investment.
Wine Enthusiast’s Classic 80 Wine Cellar is a cabinet built to protect your best bottles (and show them off with a cool blue LED light).
As the name suggests, it holds up to 80 bottles behind a triple-pane glass door with UV protection.
Vintorio Wine Aerator Pourer
About $20
Online at vintorio.com
Wine needs time to ‘breathe,’ allowing the liquid to oxidize and evaporate. Normally that takes time; however, the Vintorio Wine Aerator Pourer does the job in about 30 seconds.
It attaches to any bottle and aerates as the wine pours.
The chamber uses the Bernoulli Effect (increasing the speed of the fluid while simultaneously decreasing static pressure) to blend oxygen into the wine. You can see the air bubbles as the wine goes through.
Wine Guard
Sets start from $37
Online at wineguard.com
Do you know what’s the worst? A fruit fly in your glass.
The Wine Glass Cover Company’s mission is to keep bugs, like flies and wasps, as well as airborne particles out of your drinks. They come in different sets and varieties, including some with mesh that allows the wine to breathe and others that have no holes to keep out even the tiniest of bugs.
All prices are in Canadian dollars.