Some of the great joys of wine is sharing it with friends, and also
drinking it in interesting places. However there are two important factors in
the enjoyment of wine where either you or the wine has traveled. One is making
sure that the wine gets there properly, and the other is making sure that the
right glassware is there to drink it with.
In this article I’ll discuss wine bottle carriers and also glass
carriers. This will focus on carriers you take with you. In a separate article
I’ll look at ways to send or ship your wine to other places, if you can afford
to be apart from it, of course. The photos below come from the Murray Almond
Wine Accessories CollectionTM. Any offers to sublicense the collection
can be made to other author with appropriate inducements.
Bottle
Carriers
The first element is the
bottle carrier. The bottle carriers should serve two purposes, protecting the
wine bottle from being broken and also providing some thermal stability for the
wine, you don’t want to let the wine get too hot, or warm if it’s been chilled,
while you’re travelling.
While it is possible to wrap the bottle in newspaper and transport in a
Plastic Bag from Kmart, there is a certain amount of style that can be brought
into play here. There are a host of bottle bags available at all price levels.
The first photo shows a few that I was able to obtain for a very reasonable
price; in fact free, with the purchase of a bottle or two of wine that matched
the design on the bag. Another way of think about it is that the bag was
expensive, but did come with free wine.
All three serve slightly different purposes, the Tahbilk bag is good for
carrying two bottles nicely, although it only really suits cabernet-shape bottles,
which is the type Tahbilk typically uses. The Perrier-Jouët bag is great for
champagne, as it also fits a chiller block to keep the bubbly cool.
Glass
Carriers
So you’ve got wine in tow, but there’s not much worse that getting to
taste the wine and the glassware is not up to scratch. I’ve written before
about the importance of glassware (see
wineoftheweek) and I practice what I preach. As I mentioned in the article
I find that the standard Tasting Glass is the best all-around glass for wine. I
had been searching high and low for a good glass carrier to no avail, and had
taken to taking glasses in the box they came in.
However on a trip to South Africa last year I
encountered the perfect thing. A wonderful carrier for six tasting glasses
produced by the Cape Wine Academy in the
Stellenbosch wine area near Cape Town. I haven’t
encountered such a carrier anywhere else, but I’m pretty sure there’s a market
for them. The message on top of the carrier is an important one that I endorse
fully.
There’s not that many glass
carriers around the place especially for larger glass types such as the Riedel
glassware. Riedel market a soft-sided case that holds 4 Bordeaux glasses for about
$90aud, but there’s other options.
My vinous friend Ric Einstein; known to the wine world as TORB got sick
of inadequate glassware at Restaurants and made his own carrier for Riedel
Shiraz glasses from a large aluminum camera case.
Ric notes that there been little or no problem taking his suitcase to
restaurant, however he does clean his own glassware after dining.
Carrying
Both Bottles and Glasses
The next option is to carry both bottles and glasses to the various
functions. My most recent purchase is a carrier that I found at the local Post
Office. This insulated carrier either holds two bottles, or a bottle and two
tasting glasses (see above left). With the napkins it’s just the thing for the
watching the Grammar School rowing race.
The next two cases (the red and the black) are probably my favourites, mainly
because you can take them anywhere and not look like a wine geek until they’re
opened. Closed up they look like normal business cases, the Airline Frequent
Flyer Tags completing the illusion.
The black case I picked up for a bargain at a clearance centre. It’s
probably the best all around carrier, as the insulation keeps white wine
chilled and also maintaining the right temperature for reds. The four tasting
glasses and opener fit in snugly as well. A great all-around solution, I’m not
sure if they’re still available but I have a number of buyers if they surface
anywhere. The leather briefcase is a do-it yourself conversion I did
during the holidays. It’s design for a couple of bottles of red and two
Riedel-shaped glasses.
The foam inserts were from a
bottle mailer and the foam was cut to size by the local foam supplier. This case
does the job very nicely, but did gather a few, I think envious, sideways
glances when I took it to the restaurant.
So there’s a quick overview of some of the bottle and glass carriers out
there. In this article I’ve barely touched the surface, there’s all sorts of
options if you look around.
Some can be picked up for a song, others you have to pay a bit more for.
Louis Vuitton have a great leather bottle holder for $1500, and when I was last
in the shop I thought that their logo shoe carrier was just the thing to carry
around eight Riedel Shiraz Glasses in comfort and style. Just the thing for
Father’s Day for around $2,500.
Great wine deserves appropriate storage, transportation, and the right
glassware in which to enjoy it. The right carriers protect the wine and the
glasses, enabling the wine lover the best opportunity to get the best out of
it.
The first element is the
bottle carrier. The bottle carriers should serve two purposes, protecting the
wine bottle from being broken and also providing some thermal stability for the
wine, you don’t want to let the wine get too hot, or warm if it’s been chilled,
while you’re travelling.
