I travel quite a bit, as a wine blogger and in my professional life as well. I have traveled all over the world. Wherever I travel, whether I’m driving or flying to get to my destination, when I get there, I’m having wine. Good wine, bad wine, red wine or white wine, with a goat or in a boat, I’m going to have some wine. So just like I pack a toothbrush because I know I’m going to brush my teeth while on my trip. I also pack a few wine accessories. I view these as being necessities, and they are, because I am going to drink wine.
The first and most important accessory I fly with is a corkscrew. I know, I know, I hear you screaming at me that you can’t take a corkscrew in your carryon luggage. Well you can, so long as it doesn’t have a blade. So, no foil knife. You non-believers can confirm this on the official TSA blog here. Being able to carry a corkscrew without a foil knife doesn’t mean you have to carry one of those cheap hotel corkscrews with the hole in the screw-off cover. There are some really nice corkscrews you can carry. My favorite does have a foil cutter on it. It has a rotary foil cutter with little cutting wheels on one end. You can get these for less than $10 USD and they are worth every dollar. Pro travel tip for traveling with a corkscrew. Pack it so you can take it out of your suitcase and put it in one of the trays when going through security. Otherwise they may kick your bag aside to be “tested”, they can’t always tell it doesn’t have a blade when it is packed away. When they see it in the tray, they will pick it up, look at it, play with it, shake their head, and place it back in the tray.
The second accessory I travel with is a wine stopper. Well, it is really so much more than just a wine stopper. It is an aerator, and a wine 
, and a wine filter, as well as a leak-proof bottle stopper. While this is less of a “needed” item than my corkscrew, being able to carry something smaller than my thumb that can make hotel gift shop or drugstore quality wine taste better, elevates it required status. This style I have is $7-8 USD.
The third, and last required item I carry, is a double walled stainless “water” bottle. I have several of these, and I like a couple of them better than others. The one I tend to travel with the most is a wide-mouthed 20 ounce bottle. While it will not hold an entire bottle of wine, if I’ve opened a bottle, I’ve had some to drink. So if I only have 5.5 ounces, a weak pour in my book, the rest will fit just fine. This bottle works equally well saving “leftover” wine for later, as well as providing a discreet container to consume your wine from while enjoying the pool, hot tub, a cab to the airport, or anything else you choose. Being double walled means your wine won’t get too warm or too cool wherever you take it. Pro travel tip, I have learned that if you are going to have more than one glass of wine at the airport, it is best to buy the bottle. I can neither confirm nor deny that wine from one or more of these bottles has ended up in my “water” bottle. Oh, this water bottle is also good for holding water. It is good to stay hydrated while flying.
So take it from a seasoned traveler, you do not want to have wine and no opener. You do want the questionable wine you might be able to find in the heartland to taste the best it can, and last but not least, you want that wine to be portable. Pro travel tip, these three wine tools can turn a bad trip into a great time.
