Home Taster's Starter Kit

Six tasting glasses. Everybody should bring their own (Stock, £21 for six, or consult a good wine merchant).

Six tasting glasses. Everybody should bring their own (Stock, £21 for six, or consult a good wine merchant).

A white tablecloth (so that you can see the colour of the wine clearly).

Plenty of water.

Small chunks of bread or water biscuits (for palate-cleansing between wines).

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A good corkscrew (the Screwpull, in various forms, is still my favourite).

A simple notebook (I use a spiral-bound A5, one wine to a page).

One basic wine book (Oz Clarke's Wine Guide, updated annually, is a handy region-by-region summary of main grapes, wine styles and key producers).