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Kitty's Crumbs

What's wine without all the fun, new toys?

By Kitty Crider
American-Statesman Food Editor
November 12, 2003

All things wine do not come in bottles. Check out the latest and most classic accessories to enhance the sipping experience or get ideas for holiday gifting.

Protect-a-Wrap

Travelers who cannot resist buying a bottle of wine or olive oil on their journeys will want this 26-by-10-inch wrap that packs flat but inflates to protect your treasure. Available for $7.85 from www.magellans.com or (800) 962-4943. books.

Double duty

For those condos crunched for space, this wrought-iron wine holder also serves as a bookend. Available at Grape Vine Market for $17, it holds four bottles of wine and supports a row of books.

Musical moments

Immer CDs

We love this total experience concept being touted by two of the country's top food and wine experts. Michael Chiarello, founder of Tra Vigne Restaurant in Napa Valley and Food Network star, serves up a 4-CD, 48-song set called "Seasons of Napa." Summer is Mediterranean guitar; winter, string quartets. Add menus and a map of the country's best-known wine region and you get a contemporary gift ($50) you might keep for yourself. He also has a 2-CD set -- music for cooking, music for dining. www.napastyle.com.

And, Andrea Immer, master sommelier, has put together eight separate entertaining CDs such as "Bubbles, Brazil and Bossa Nova," "Brew, BBQ and Blues," and "Big Reds, Bistro and Ballads." You get the menu, the recipes, the music. About $14 from Amazon.com.

Chic geek

Chill the wine electronically. Open it with a corkscrew carried in a sportpack on your belt. In a high-tech town, we have options. From Sharper Image comes the $79 plug-in cooler with 10 pre-set temperatures to chill a bottle indoors or out. The Screwpull is $25 at Grape Vine Market.

Wine-on-the-go

Whether you go vinyl or leather, a padded, insulated two-bottle carrying case makes taking wine to a party or friend a breeze. Most come with re-usable ice packs to keep it chilled. And there is a place for a corkscrew. The vinyl case from the International Wine Association is on sale at $39.95 at www.iwawine.com. The leather wine tote is $55 at www.wineaccessory.com.

Designer accessories

No re-corking for you. Luxuriously cap that wine bottle with a lead crystal stopper ($49) and place it in a wine coaster ($100) on your table. Both from Medusa, the Italian house of Versace, available at www.neimanmarcus.com.

Elegant corkscrew

Laguiole is a name synonymous with high-quality European knives and corkscrews and this classic waiter's version has never gone out of style. Available in bone and stone for $100-$150 at wine stores, in catalogs and on the Internet, it makes a handsome gift.

Everyday glasses

That sounds like an oxymoron for the stemware known as the ultimate in the wine world. But here's what's new -- a set of four for under $40, which is generally less than the price of a single Riedel stem. This is practical Riedel, machine-made glasses called the Wine Line, that copy the drinking properties of the better known and pricier Vinum line available in local wine shops. Hmm. Does that take the cachet out of drinking from Riedel stemware? Perhaps, but you won't cringe when you break one, either. Go to www.wineenthusiast.com to check it out.

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