A more 'contemporary' designed wine bottle basket - any reccs?

WINE TALK
41

I just grab the bottle. To me the basket isn’t so much about not touching the bottle, but more about preserving the bottle’s horizontal position while I’m opening the bottle so as not to disturb the sediment that has settled on the side of the bottle. Once the cork is out I just grab the bottle and decant the wine.

42

tell your wife it could be worse- i use an old loaf pan because i’ve asked for a basket for christmas 4 years in a row and havent gotten one yet. but the loaf pan on its own is a little too long. so i use a loaf pan with a small rock in one end to prop the bottle up a little taller.

Alton Brown would be proud of my multi-tasker. My wife, not so much.

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43

Firstly, it’s more work. Secondly, coffee filters are neither pH- nor flavor-neutral. I have used a coffee filter on occasion in the past, and the filtered wine always tasted flat even when it didn’t taste of the paper itself.

I can see that people might not like the look of baskets, hence I guess the search for a more “contemporary” styled version, but just in terms of sheer practicality I have found them transformative, and after friends have seen them in operation over dinner at my place in Beaune, they regularly raid the local shops looking for baskets of their own.

44

I was thinking the same thing, Keith. [cheers.gif]

45

Meant to ask about this on the Zoom last night. I have wanted to add this to my gift wish list many times as we are now buying and drinking older bottles. But, yes they all have a design aesthetic that would would stick out like a sore thumb among my other wine gadgets. The Cracker Barrel reference is pretty spot on.

Why can’t there be one that is a simple, clean design without looking like a wicker or floral cradle?

46

I think Matt’s ‘loaf pan and rock’ fits the bill to a tee.

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47

Was the loaf pan bought at Cracker Barrel?

48

Please clue me in as to how these things work. Is the bottle supposed to be high enough that a one glass can be placed under it, and the cradle tipped enough to pour? Or is the bottle supposed to be lifted out of the basked gently in a semi-horizontal position, then poured, then gently returned to the basket? Inquiring minds want to know . . . . .

49

The bottle stays in the basket. You pick it up by the handle and gently pour, the sediment doesn’t get churned up.

If you’re really anal, you have the basket at the edge of the table, and hold your glass below the level of the table, so the only motion is a gentle tipping of the bottle, no lifting.

50

Problem solved!

Mr. Reddick can apply his magic…and with my standard 10% royalty fee, I can replace multiple revenue streams that I have been living off of during my two-year BD Championship reign. Appearance fees, autographed pictures, autographed wine bottles, speaking engagements, book-signings, etc. Rodrigo, have you engaged an agent yet??

Tom can also design matching Speedos to enhance the tasting experience. Since these will sell like hotcakes and have a higher profit margin, my royalty fee on these are 15%

51

I keep it in the basket in its semi horizontal position. Open it and proceed to carefully pour the contents of the bottle into a decanter. Then I no longer have to worry about being careful handling the bottle

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52

For the baskets you should be able to pour from the basket into the decanter. I only use a basket for wine I’m decanting. I have the basket Todd posted initially. Bottles can slip, I had one bottle slip and break the decanter. These stands look good but it depends on the bottle angle; too high and the sediment is disturbed and too low and wine leaks out.
What about port cradles?

53

most of the time the loaf pan is clean at least.

54

I wouldn’t use the filter on the whole bottle, just the last two sips.

55

[scratch.gif]

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Custom made Cedar split pouring basket by a PNW native basket maker. Not exactly contemporary

56

No need to decant Boones Farm. Just have a quart of Bud and use the Boones farm as a chaser.

57

Im hoping to get WK to swap me for that DRC

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58

Dudes got like 7 baskets of DRC at the ready, gotta toss in some Goodfellow and craft beer to do a deal.

59

In my apartment, I store all my bottles standing up. These are generally wines that I am looking to consume over the coming months. Eg I took shelves out of my mine wine coolers to stand up bottles vertically. So all wines are ‘ready’ with settled sediment at the bottom… but I am finding myself irritated at discarded the last ounce or so.

For a wine basket, how are you opening it? Does the wine not automatically spill out once you open a cork? If there is limited head space vertically, I imagine opening a bottle at an angle would mean spillage? Can you open a new bottle without any spilling at an angle? Also for a tough cork, would there be more shaking of a bottle when opening at an angle?

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60

Some of my spillage is pulling the cork too abruptly. The Durand works well on older bottles, although it’s harder to align on an angled bottle.