You don’t need to keep this in the tool shed, next to the weed-wacker. Rather, keep it in the junk drawer of your kitchen, next to the corkscrews and other oft-unused gadets — it’s cheap and effective enough to be worthy of a place in there.

Every once in a while you come across a bottle — usually a fairly expensive one — that has a gob of wax covering the cork instead of the usual lead foil. While it is a more effective means of securing the wine inside, and it makes your bottle seem all that more important, getting the wax off is a pain in the asterisk.

Usually I bang on the top of the wax with a heavy-handled corkscrew, which is only slightly effective and sprays shattered pieces of wax shrapnel all over the place. Sometimes, the wax is only a thin layer, and you can corkscrew right through it … but then you end up with wax stuck in the screw. The Wax-Wacker is a better answer for both types of wax sealers. It’s well-shaped and weighted for wacking over the top of the bottle, but also has a spoon-like edge that you can use to carve into the wax if you prefer not to have the shrapnel all over your kitchen. That edge is also perfect for wedging under the wax caps and flipping off the cork.

A good stocking stuffer for your favorite wine geek.