Here are 5 wine tools that I believe are well worth an investment in, even if you are just starting out with wine. You can go the full gamut in price ranges for most of these tools, so don’t feel like you have to spend big bucks on any of these things. The first two items are on my definite must-have list, and the last three are most helpful, but not quite as essential. Here we go:

1. The Wine Glass:

You can spend as little as a quarter or so at yard sales, or up to $20 for a wine glass. And yes, I know you can chug out of the bottle, or sip from a red solo cup, but to really be able to smell the aroma of the wine, a wine glass is best. Plus a glass will let you see the beautiful color of the wine.

2. The Corkpuller:

Not all wineries have switched over to screw caps, so a corkpuller of some kind is still essential. I like these waiter’s-style cork pullers since they are compact and fairly inexpensive. These cork pullers that I sell cost $8 and have a nice rubber grip to them, but I’ve found pared down versions of the waiter’s cork pullers for as little as $2.

There are many different styles of cork pullers out there, and you can figure you can spend anywhere up to $80 or so depending on how fancy a puller you want. There are even electric cork pullers for those of you that aren’t confident with a manual cork puller.

3. Foil Cutter:

Foil cutters are great for cleanly removing the foil from the top of the wine bottle. Again, this isn’t a wine essential necessarily, but it sure makes things easier! I retail mine for $5, and most of the time I’d say they will retail in the $4-8 range.

4. Wine Preserver:

If you don’t tend to drink a whole bottle all at once and like to hold on to your leftover wine for several days, consider spending $10-15 on a can of wine preserver. The can is filled with nitrogen or argon, which are both heavier than air and do not react with wine. You spray this into your bottle which displaces the oxygen in the bottle, then seal your bottle and your wine should be good to go until the next time you open up the bottle.

5. Red Wine Stain Remover

If you are a klutz like me – or just have klutzy friends like me – spending $8-12 on a bottle of ‘wine away’ or ‘red wine stain remover’ will be well worth the investment. Spray this stuff on and it magically takes away the stain (this might take more than one application, but it’s still a LOT easier than many of the other methods to try to get wine out of carpeting or clothing!).

I hope this list of my 5 wine gadget essentials was useful for you. Do you have something you think should be added to this list? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! Cheers.