Cool wine gadget of the day

Not that I’m going to start blogging daily about wine gadgets, but I couldn’t come up with a better title.

We’ve got painters in the house all this week, overhauling everything from the ceilings down. (So far the basement is finished and the entrance way has a first coat; both look fabulous and almost make me want to stay. Almost, but not quite.)

Prior to their arrival, we did a bit of a de-clutter. I’d like to comment on the VASTLY different perspectives held by men and women regarding this process. One sees it as a chance to carefully wrap and pack away much of the largely unused items, or ditch things that haven’t seen the light of day in over a year. The other prefers to pile everything under a table in the middle of the room. You decide who did what here.

Part of said de-clutter was the dismantling and packing of the wine rack, a high priority on my list. (The contents of which took well-deserved precedence over the Rockband drum set in the storage cubby.) It was a good opportunity to do an inventory; I was proud of the few special bottles and older vintages that I had in stock. But my heart broke a little every time I had to stand them up on end for storage. Like a little voice in each bottle was screaming in agony at the slightest bit of movement. Hopefully I haven’t caused them too much strife.

I carefully stored the more precious and rare items into a fitted Styrofoam crate, a wondrous little thingy we picked up during our vacation in California. This was post-9/11, so the rigid 100mL liquid limits on airlines were in full effect. Here we are going on a wine tour – how the heck were we going to get them home?

Somewhere along the Napa Valley, we found a place that was selling these crafty little inserts and shipping boxes to tourists. Snug, compact, just the right size to hold a case and keep everything intact (even after being shlepped about by airline staff. Imagine!) Thrilled, we bought one and stocked it with 10 bottles—probably would have bought more, but we were concerned about the taxes and duty involved on the return flight. Which ended up being a paltry $20, I think, for the whole thing. Noted for future reference.

I hung on to the Styrofoam case, and it has proven to be a godsend more than once. Now that the cellar has grown and I think we’ll definitely have to order another before we do the move.

Great article from Beppi Crosariol on this Wine Gadget of the Day: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article667574.ece