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Sommelier's Wine Chiller
I was looking for a Christmas gift for my best friend who's one of those guys that have all kinds of 'bar gadgets'. I noticed that he didn't have a wine chiller to go with the rest of his stuff, so after reviewing the opinions of several wine chillers, this one seemed to have one of the best (that's right one). Needless to say, I took that one opinion and made my decision. I was not disappointed...neither was he. The chiller works great!! We put a bottle of wine in it at room temp (about 73 degrees), and it chilled the wine down to 47 degrees after a few hours. The unit's not too noisy, and it really works!! Got my vote. I'm getting one for myself...
[Sunday, January 20, 2008]
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A Fun Product, With a Couple of Minor Flaws
My wife gave this to me for Christmas, and I think it's both fun and useful. To be clear, this product is not intended for quick-cooling wine -- if you start with a warm bottle of white wine, it will take a good hour or two to bring it down to temperature. For fast cooling, a bucket of ice water is your best best. What it does do is bring the wine to the right temperature for drinking. It takes a while, but it will heat up a wine that's too cool, or cool a wine that's too warm. Most people serve white wines too cold and red wines too warm. This device allows service at the optimal temperature.
I do, however, have two criticisms of the product, which keep it from earning a full five stars. The first is that the insulating collar is too small. It fits a standard bottle perfectly, but if the bottle is at all oversized (as some 750 ml bottles are), there is a gap between the bottom of the collar and the top of the device. It's not a fatal flaw, but it's annoying.
The second problem is that you cannot enter a custom temperature. If you want a wine served at, say 65 degrees, you can't just set it to that temperature. Of course you can always lie to it and pick a wine from its menu whose suggested temperature is close to what you prefer. But letting us just set the temperature would be a nice option.
But let me be clear about this: despite these two relatively minor flaws, it's a great product and we've had a blast with it. Plus, when I use it with guests it reinforces my image as a wine snob!
[Friday, January 11, 2008]
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Returned item received as a gift.
My wife did not want this item. Brookstone was not helpful and gave conflicting information about returning the item. They also have a no receipt-no return policey which is irksome. I will not buy via Brookstone again.
[Monday, January 07, 2008]
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