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While there are some fancy wine bottles out there, decanting your wine into the right carafe can make a statement. The Rocking Carafe, made by Sagaform, definitely falls into that category: it's a hand-blown glass carafe that can rock back and forth while you appreciate you wine. As long as the carafe is set on its accompanying silicone stand, it won't tip over or roll away. There's a reason behind the style incorporating a unique, rounded base, rather than a flat base, though. The large base allows for maximum wine oxygenation, while the neck is designed to make pouring wine simple.
The Rocking Carafe can hold up to three wine bottles' worth of wine (more than half a gallon), making it a good option for a dinner with several friends or another get together. It doesn't hurt that the movement of the Rocking Carafe can make for an interesting discussion. Luckily, this carafe isn't so different from a Weeble Wobble: it will wobble, but it won't fall over. Your guests can safely pour their own drinks. The Rocking Carafe is available for around $35. It is available in a gift box and can make for a good present for a wine aficionado.
For every wine, there is a perfect drinking temperature. However, most wines are actually stored at a temperature below that point. The Kalorik Tabletop Wine Cooler lets you keep your wine at the correct temperature and still have it on the table. The wine cooler has two chambers that let you chill two bottles at once. Standard wine bottles fit in both chambers and can be controlled separately. If, for instance, you have a bottle of red in one chamber and a bottle of white in the other, you can chill them both to the ideal temperature for their specific varieties.
The Kalorik Tabletop Wine Cooler comes preprogrammed with four recommended serving temperatures, letting you chill red wine, white wine, rose wine, and champagne at the press of a button. You can also control the temperature manually, setting it anywhere from 45 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The wine cooler also comes with two wireless temperature probes that can determine the temperature of your wine from outside of the bottle. If you leave your wine out of the wine cooler but within 10 feet of it, the temperature probes will even warn you when your wine is getting too warm and needs to go back in the cooler. The Kalorik Tabletop Wine Cooler costs about $150.
Neil Cohen designed the Eclipse Wine Rack by joining together two curves: one from Nambé Alloy, the signature metal of the company selling the wine rack, and the other from acacia wood. The two combine into an elegant show piece that just happens to be able to hold three bottles of wine. The wine is held by the neck of the bottle, creating an illusion that the bottles are defying gravity. The Eclipse Wine Rack measures about 9 inches by 10.5 inches by 11 inches--it could be used as a centerpiece just as easily as it can grace a countertop.
The Eclipse Wine Rack is eye-catching, but you can make it even more so. Nambé offers the option of engraving on any of its Nambé Alloy items, so you can easily add a monogram, a logo or even original art to your wine rack. Even a small addition can personalize the Eclipse Wine Rack, making it a meaningful piece as well as an elegant design element. To keep Nambé Alloy shining brightly, it is important to polish it every so often. The company sells Nambé Polish for best results. The Eclipse Wine Rack is $200.
Two bottles are better than one.
(Credit: Bed Bath & Beyond)Years upon years of collective experience has taught wine lovers the knowledge of what specific temperatures are best to serve different types of wine. No matter if you follow these recommended temperature settings or just need a way to make wine that is supposed to be cold, cold, you are going to need a way to chill your wine.
The Sharper Image Double Wine Chiller is a double-barreled tabletop wine chiller. Capable of chilling wine to a specified temperature from a list of 70 presets, the two-chambered chiller helps to chill two bottles of different wines at their correct temperatures. A large backlit display makes it easy to read details for each side, while also allowing for the capability to add custom preferences. With a brushed metal finish, the appliance furnishes a distinctive modern look that will go with any decor.
Wine chillers may be a great way to get a bottle of wine to the correct temperature; however, most designs are flawed in that they only are capable of chilling one bottle at a time. When a bottle is opened, a decision must be made to keep that bottle chilled, or to vacate the space to create room for the next bottle. It's not a problem wine drinkers need be faced with. With a double wine chiller, one bottle can be opened and enjoyed at the correct temperature, while another remains at the ready. You know, just in case.
Wine collecting made easy.
(Credit: Williams-Sonoma)It can be difficult to collect wine. It's not necessarily the entry price or the learning curve, as there are numerous varietals that are attractively priced, and a plethora of written advice is always only a few clicks away. No, what makes collecting wine difficult as opposed to baseball cards or classic cars is that wine is consumed. However, sometimes a collection need only be a few bottles strong.
The Cuisinart 8-Bottle Wine Cellar is a perfect solution for oenophiles who frequently "update" their collection. Holding either 750 milliliter or 1,500 milliliter bottles, the wine fridge combines aesthetics and practicality. It runs silent, as it uses thermoelectric cooling technology, which makes it an ideal model for countertop use. With eight preprogrammed temperature settings, it offers convenience at the touch of a button. Full manual control is also an option, and the refrigerator can chill wines to 20 degrees below ambient temperature.
An interior light illuminates your collection when the door is opened; the light can also be left on so as to show off your collection. The unit measures 10 inches by 17 inches, with a height of 17.25 inches. While the wine cellar doesn't take up much room, when it's time to grow your collection, a 16-bottle model and a 32-bottle model are also available. Just be careful, as then it would appear you've become a wine collector.
Moving full wine glasses between the kitchen and the table can be a balancing act--and it doesn't always end well. Rather than worrying about the affects of wine on your carpet, the Stemglass Tray provides a way to easily move drinks. The design originated at a Japanese restaurant, in order to make it easy for one person to carry multiple glasses of wine at once. The tray has notches that each wine glass can slide into, along with a hook to keep each glass in place as you walk. The grip is not too different from a painter's palette. You can manage up to eight glasses at one go with the Stemglass Tray. It's approximately 11.5 inches by 14 inches.
The concept behind the Stemglass Tray is relatively simple. By moving the center of gravity of the individual wine glasses, they're much easier to carry without sloshing wine or worrying about even worse mishaps. The Stemglass Tray is available in both black and white plastic, and can easily be flipped around to be used whether you're right-handed or left-handed. The seller behind the Stemglass Tray is a Japanese company, and it has it priced at 8,400 yen.
Chilled wine on the countertop.
(Credit: Organize.com)Countertop appliances are convenient, plentiful, and seemingly available for any particular need. From toaster ovens to rice cookers, the small devices have found a way into our kitchens, offering us easy usability and specialized functions all without taking up too much room. Having an army of small appliances ready to do our culinary bidding may be handy and useful, but sometimes it's just about storage. In the case of this particular countertop device, it's about wine storage.
The Wine Enthusiast Silent 12 Bottle Countertop Wine Refrigerator keeps your favorite wines at the correct temperature and ready to drink. The easy access storage solution not only acts as a functional device, but it takes advantage of its freestanding countertop design by looking sleek and stylish. With a 12-bottle capacity while standing only 15 inches tall (15.75 inches wide and 19.75 inches deep), the small refrigerator maximizes its space, while providing enough chilled wine to keep the party going.
Looking good on the countertop may be a feature of this compact wine chiller, but it also offers silent operation. Using thermoelectric cooling, which requires no moving parts, the compact refrigerator can stay in constant operation without being a distraction. Complete with interior light and digital display, this countertop machine looks good and offers convenience normally reserved for toasters and microwaves. While I doubt the toaster is going to get jealous anytime soon, it will have to learn how to share some space.
(Credit:
Appliancist)
The unit blends with other AEG-Electrolux stainless steel built-ins, giving you a beautiful six shelves of column storage for up to 36 bottles of wine. It's designed to keep your wine at an appropriate storage temperature, boasting a set of childproof temperature controls and an air circulation system that ensures that cold air is distributed evenly among your reds and whites. If you need to store them at different temperatures, you can take advantage of two temperature zones.
The wine chiller is available in left- or right-handed configurations, so you can rest assured that you'll find one that fits with your existing kitchen.
Conveniently cold.
(Credit: Sur La Table)Neoprene is great fun. The stretchy wetsuit material is almost as good as duct tape for all manner of inventive uses. Except neoprene is more fun (and fixes fewer things). While duct tape may have the advantage when it comes to fixing broken things, neoprene helps us out in a more supportive way. Aside from protecting our bodies while in the ocean, the material is capable of wrapping around most any object, forming a layer of protection for what it covers. I've seen it used for anything from camera cases to laptop cases, but this may be its best use yet.
The Rabbit Beverage Chillers by Metrokane are constructed from this magic material and encapsulate four individual ice packs. Easily fitting over soda and wine bottles up to 2 liters in size, the chillers keep your beverage cool for up to 2 hours. Simply keep the chillers in your freezer (they are ready in as little as 4 hours), and pop them out when you're ready to go. The portable ice packs make it easy to enjoy the great outdoors and have a cold beverage at the same time.
When not in use (or in the freezer), the neoprene sleeves serve a secondary purpose that is definitely a bonus. By slipping over bottles, the chillers are able to protect glass while packing for shipping or moving. A third use should not be overlooked, in that they obscure the label, so when giving a gift of wine, one would make an excellent accessory to include--perfect for jazzing up that $2 bottle of wine.
Chilled and ready.
(Credit: Sur La Table)I really like freezers. Not only do they change water into ice, but they also store food, allowing us to keep a pork roast on hand for weeks longer than we otherwise could. Anything that can stop food from going bad is going to get a vote of approval from me. Not only can we put stuff in it to keep it cool, but we can also take things out to chill other items. Of course, I'm talking about things like ice cubes and ice packs, but there is one particular item that I find interesting today.
The Glass Chiller Carafe features a removable base that is meant to be stored in the freezer. When you decide to serve white wine, sangria, or another chilled beverage, simply take the base out of the freezer and place the filled carafe on top. there is no need to worry about chilling the wine beforehand or diluting your beverage with melting ice. The convenience of the frozen disc means that you can always be ready to serve a chilled beverage.
The carafe is dishwasher-safe, and also comes with a stainless-steel spout. It holds one liter of liquid and also can be used without the base for red wine or other nonchilled drinks. Depending on the starting temperature of the beverage along with the ambient temperature, the carafe can keep drinks chilled for up to four hours.
