I’m obsessed with Built NY! They have the absolute coolest neoprene bags to keep everything from your laptop, to your bottles of wine safe and secure. They’ve also got cute finds for your tots and everything comes in an array of colors and patterns. For anyone who is heading to the park for a picnic, taking multiple bottles of wine or champagne with them as they pack for a weekend getaway, or simply bringing some bubbly or a bottle of wine when invited to dinner party nothing beat’s Built’s Wine Tots. They come in single bottle form ($14), as well as in a two bottle tote. How cute are these!? I have the Fishnet Wine Tote in the Nolita Stripe and I love it – I can carry a bottle of wine in my bag and not have to worry about it breaking. To boot the material is stain-resistant, insulating and can be hand washed. Learn more by clicking here!
July 28th, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in Wine Accessories | Comments (0)
The importance of serving wine at the right temperature is often overlooking (red wines are often served warmer than they should be, while white wines are often served at temperatures considered to be too cool), despite the fact that temperature has a huge impact on a wine’s flavor. For true wine aficionados, Nuvo Vino’s SnapShot Wine Thermometer ($39.95), would make a delightful gift — it’s an infrared thermometer that takes the temperature of your wine via a sensor, so it does not come into contact with your wine (ie no worries of contamination). Basically it takes the guesswork out of figuring out if your wine is at the appropriate temperature. The device is super-easy, quick to use, and accurate (literally just a click — ironically the gadget looks like a pen). Learn more by clicking here!
July 8th, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in Wine Accessories | Comments (0)
The Rapid Ice Cooling Carafe ($39.99)– available in black or white – is one of the sleekest, easy-to-use, and fast-acting cooling carafes I have ever seen. It allows you to chill your wine (or any beverage for that matter) in mere minutes and without ice! You can forget about any watery mess with this uber-sleek table-top cooler which reminds me of something Philippe Starck could have designed. The carafe incorporates two rapid ice cooling elements — simply store the cooling elements in the freezer and insert into the carafe base when you are ready to enjoy a nice cool glass of wine (1 liter capacity). Your wine will be actively cooled in minutes and will remain cool for hours.
The carafe truly lives up to all of its lofty claims as I found out recently when I had the chance to test it out. Best of all you can use it both outdoors and indoors making it ideal for all those summertime BBQ celebrations. The glass carafe is also dishwasher safe.
On a side note, the carafe won the honor of being awarded the 2008 ‘Good Design’ award at Good Design Chicago.
The Vacu Vin website is truly a gem for anyone interested in wine accessories. They’ve got an endless array of impeccably designed products offered at reasonable price points. Check them out online!
July 7th, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in Wine Accessories | Comments (0)
I can’t think of a wine gadget that has been getting more buzz than the Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator ($39.95) – and let me just say, it’s very well deserved. The ingenious product aerates wine – both red and white aerators are available– to create a better bouquet, enhance flavors, and offer a smoother finish. Simply hold the aerator over your wine glass and pour wine through for instant aeration – what could be easier?
The Vinturi aerator accelerates the wine breathing process without sacrificing anything in the way of flavor or finish so it’s little surprise that it has quickly become the chosen aeration tool of over 100 Napa Valley and Sonoma wineries. After all, who wants to use time-consuming decanters when you don’t have to?
To properly aerate the wine, Vinturi applies Bernoulli’s principle, which states that as the speed of a moving fluid increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases. When wine is poured in the Vinturi, its design creates an increase in the wine’s velocity and a decrease in its pressure. This pressure difference draws in air, which is mixed with wine for perfect aeration.
The Vinturi is made of acrylic, and comes with a a no-drip stand and a travel pouch. It’s dishwasher safe and widely available at Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel, Sur La Table, Wine Enthusiast, and on Vinturi’s website.
July 6th, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in Wine Accessories | Comments (0)
Earth Balance Bags are a wonderful alternative to paper wine bags. The line is the first of its kind to be made available for commercial resale in the United States and it’s made primarily from limestone thus doing away with the wasteful processes associated with paper production. The “tree-free” product combines inorganic mineral powder from pulverized limestone with a small amount of hi-density polyethylene as a binder, making a sturdy paper alternative. For every ton of tree-free paper that’s produced, there are tremendous environmental advantages: 20 trees saved, 42 pounds of water born waste avoided, 236 pounds of atmospheric emissions eliminated, 16,000 gallons of water conserved, and 36,000 BTU’s of energy not consumed.
Tree-free paper offers other benefits for the environment too—it has no chemical bleaching, uses zero water consumption, creates no hazardous waste for our environment, and is still recyclable. Further, it uses leftover unused material from existing limestone quarries, which means that no new mines are needed for the production of the bags.
A number of monochromatic or patterned options are available and larger gift bags will in various shapes and sizes will be added soon!
May 22nd, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in Wine Accessories | Comments (1)
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