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QVC Wine Gadgets
Written by: Michael Mardings
My lovely fiancee Maria wanted to have a wine party and invite a few
friends. I thought it a simple event, until I realized what was involved.
Besides acquiring the wines, there are a few accessories that at times can be
considered quite necessary. After having her spend a little time shopping
on QVC, we completed our shopping list with time to spare.
The most impressive gadget we purchased, was the Wine Magic Bottle Openers. They look a bit odd to set up, as they seem like rather large hypodermic needles, however that said, they were more impressive than the wines. Basically you take this device, which has a mouth that goes around the bottle's neck, and jab the needle into the bottle. The entire room then screams, "Oh my!" as you jab the bottle with the needle.
Next, you press a button on top and it injects carbon dioxide right in to the
bottle. The inert gasses don't mix or affect the wine, but it creates the
most amazing "pop" noise and then, "boom". The cork pops out and the crowd
cheers. A few minutes later everybody asked if we were drinking champagne
or wine, as the popping noise simply confused them.
That said, eventually the popping noise gets out of hand by the 30th bottle,
when we resorted to the manual method of opening with the Igo Battery
Operated Corkscrew. Okay, it's not really manual, but
you press the button and it goes in. Press the button and it sucks the cork
right out. It was much easier than simply twisting and yes, by bottle 30 we were tired.
Where was I doing this? Surely we wouldn't ruin our own living room
furniture with spilled wine. The Polder Chrome Wine Trolley rolled from the
dining room to the living room with ease and fortunately held all of the
glasses underneath. On top, it had this plastic cover which was quite
helpful given that, by this point everybody was so inebriated they spilled
wine everywhere. It took no time to assemble before the party and it
looked really snazzy.
In the dining room we stored the wines, both chilling and room temperature. The chilled wines were stored in two tubs. The "California" and the "New York"
wine tubs. The California wine tub was the Peterboro Winterberry Vine
Basket w/ Painted Lid, which looked artsy and Maria insisted was much more
appropriate for a Napa wine. Inside is a plastic protective container so
the wood doesn't get damaged. Outside it's a "gorgeous basket" as Maria
says, but "it doesn't leak"
The "New York wine tub" as we dubbed it, was the Portable Acrylic Wine and
Drink Party Tub. It's a simple acrylic tub, but Maria felt it had a "New
York" style in that it was "angular and slick". I was just happy that it
was strong and sturdy, but you can see the Mars and Venus effect right there.
For the dessert wines, which we wanted "extra chilled" and for anything
that didn't fit in the tub, we used the Buffet Rapid Ice Wine
Chiller. It's fast and easy as described, and yes, it really does chill
your wine in minutes. You just freeze the ice pack before hand and then
you're set.
Lastly, when we were done we had to seal the "half-empties". A much easier
and quicker solution than the vacuum sealer is the Velvet
Wine and Champagne Sealers. You literally just pop it on top, make a few
twists and then send it on your way. Some of the wines that were going to
be consumed a bit sooner and didn't require vacuum sealing, got the Wine
Bucket Bottle Stoppers. They look like little wine buckets and reminded
Maria of the party and the mess we made for at least a week.
Summing up, I was happily surprised that in one shot on line I got
everything that I needed to make the party a success. People are still
talking about where to get those funny cork openers that make a popping
sound. An easy wine party, with all of the trimmings.
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