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The Sommelier's Tools of the Trade

After the grape grower, the winemaker, the taster, bottler, shipper, importer, wholesaler and retailer, the sommelier represents the final link in the chain between the wine and the consumer. He or she must provide information, offer advice and answer questions which require a thorough knowledge of the subject.
Professional wine service requires the proper tools. The standard accessories used in top-flight restaurants include:

Small wine service table on casters that can be easily moved


Decanters of fine glass or crystal for decanting wines that have sediment or that need to be aerated before being served


Ice bucket with ice and water for quick cooling of sparkling wines and certain dry whites and dessert wines, or for maintaining temperatures if they are already chilled. Insulated containers may also be available for maintaining temperatures of certain wines


Champagne pincers that resemble a nutcracker for freeing corks on sparkling wines that are too stiff to removed by hand


Serving baskets or cradles used for holding bottles of old red wines as dose to horizontal as possible, so that they can be poured gently to avoid disturbing sediment


Candles used when decanting to check that the sediment remains in the shoulder without being poured


The type of bottle openers most commonly used by sommeliers are in the form of a jackknife with a corkscrew and a lever at one end and a blade for cutting the capsule or foil at the other. The corkscrew should consist of a slender spiral open at the centre with a sharp point to penetrate the cork without pushing it down the neck of the bottle or drilling a hole through it and leaving scraps of cork in the bottle. The lever which is placed against the hp of the bottle, should be long enough to give the leverage necessary to pull out the cork easily in one smooth movement.

Wine glasses
Both function and aesthetic effect are important in the choice of wine glasses. Designs vary enormously, but certain basic features are indispensable. A practical, good quality glass for serving wine is


completely transparent: cut or tinted glass make it impossible to judge the appearance of a wine


as thin as possible


part (9% lead) or pure crystal


in the shape of a chalice, with a stem by which the glass is held.

A complete restaurant service consists of six glasses for: spumante, white or rosé, red wine, water, dessert wine and liqueurs. The shape and size of the glass varies according to the wine to be served in it. Each type of wine has its own glass which shows the character of the wine to the best advantage. The generally accepted designs are:


Dry sparkling wine: a tail glass known as a "flute" which shows off the long stream of bubbles or "perlage" of quality spumanti or champagne.


Sweet sparkling wine: a wide shallow chalice known as a coppa in which the wine can immediately release all its aroma.


Young white wine: a small, slim glass accentuates the fresh fruit and delicate aromas of this type of wine. A slight flare at the rim channels the wine to the sides of the tongue which it senses the refreshing acidity.


Aromatic white wine: a medium-size glass, round and slightly closed at the rim to capture the aromas.


Young rosé: a small glass somewhat wider at the bowl and with a slight narrowing at the rim which shows off the fresh fragrance of the wine and its delicate flavour.


Young red wine: a medium-sized glass with an egg-shaped bowh and a slight narrowing at the rim which favours the freshness of aroma and flavour.


Mature red wine: a fairly large glass with a well-rounded bowl and an in ward taper at the rim which releases the bouquet gradually as the wine is sipped.


Red wine from old vintages: a large, bowl-shaped glass, sometimes called a "ballon", which provides ample space for the bouquet to show its depth and complexity and favours the gradual evolution of the flavours as the wine breathes.


Dessert wine: a tall, slender, cylindrical glass designed for the immediate aromas and sweet flavours of most types of dessert wine.

There are other, more exclusive types of glasses within each category, but a full set along the lines suggested is more than adequate for all purposes. When a table setting requires the full service of glasses, for example at formal dinners featuring a series of wines, they should be arranged from the right to left in the order that the wines are served. In normal restaurant situations as wines are ordered the correct glasses should be placed on the table just before pouring.

Glasses for most types of wines should be only partly filled. A sparkling wine flute or dessert wine glass may be filled half way, but never to more than three-fifths of its capacity.