Serving baskets or cradles used for holding bottles of certain aged red wines as close to horizontal as possible, so that they can be poured with a minimum of motion to avoid stirring up sediment.
Candles to provide light behind a bottle being decanted to check that the sediment remains in the shoulder without being poured. Such candles should be made of odorless wax.
Tastevins, the shallow silver saucer that sommeliers often carry on a neck chain, may be used to check the color, odor and flavor of a small amount of wine poured into it before serving. Some wine waiters consider the tastevin more symbolic or showy than practical.
Bottle openers normally used by sommeliers are in the form of a jackknife with a corkscrew and 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 center with a sharp point to penetrate the cork without drilling a hole through it and depositing scraps in the bottle - as a solid, screw-shaped type often does. Also, the lever which is placed against the lip of the bottle should be long enough to permit the cork to be pried out easily in a gradual, uninterrupted motion.
