Tools of the Trade – The Wine Thief

What is a wine thief you ask?  Are you imagining an inebriated, Hamburgler-style villain who stalks the cellars of the north coast?  As pictured, the wine thief is a vital tool used in the winemaking process to sample wine in barrels, and works just like an oversized glass straw.  This is an especially important tool for tracking the progress of barrel fermented chardonnay, which is especially prone to ‘sticking’, or stopping fermentation in mid stroke, much to the chagrin of the poor beleaguered winemaker who then has to figure out what is wrong and fix it before ill-intentioned bacteria or yeast take ahold of the situation.