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+--- Thread: Picnic Tote (/thread-15005.html)
- Innkeeper - 10-16-2000
Received as a birthday present last week (OK it was the 61st) a very nice wine tote. It is the Opus from Picnic Time Inc. Gives you transportable wine service for two. It is a forest green heavy duty (600D) polyester heavily insulated tote bag with adjustable shoulder strap. Has a separate insulated compartment for a bottle of wine, and another compartment with 2 acrylic wine glasses (can be easily replaced with 6 - 8 oz journeyman glass glasses), 2 coordinated cotton napkins, a good quality waiter corkscrew, and a nickel plated bottle stopper.
Checked their website and found out (for you!) that it retails for around $30.00. Vital stats on the company are: Picnic Time, 5131 Maureen Lane, Moorpark, CA 93021; Tel: 888-742-6429; Fax: 805-529-7474; e-mail: picnictime@earthlink.net; website http://www.picnictime.com . They make other wine related equipment as well, including larger totes, and wine service picnic baskets.
- hotwine - 10-16-2000
Congrats & condolences, IK. That sounds like a nice tote. (I'm only a couple of years behind you.)
On the subject of accoutrements: Do you use anything in particular for your wine shopping list? I've tried scrappy notes for years, but they have a way of growing legs and disappearing; now use a little address book, but it's not ideal. I'm always on the hunt for a better one.
- Innkeeper - 10-16-2000
Well I ordered a Palm Pilot IIIxe from an online store, got my credit card debited, and the company went belly up. My first e-commerce burn. As soon as I get over it, may take another shot. There was a thread about PDAs awhile back. You might try a search.
- Thomas - 10-16-2000
Hotwine, I used to save the bottles and write on the labels--now that was a stupid idea that hit home the first time I moved from one apartment to another.
IK, a winery near me sells those totes; I have been thinking about grabbing one up, and now I might do that.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 10-16-2000).]
- hotwine - 10-16-2000
Thanks, I remember the thread on the Palm.
I'm waiting for it to be reduced in size.
- Bucko - 10-16-2000
So you had to eat the expense instead of the credit card company?
Bucko
- Innkeeper - 10-16-2000
They're working on it.
- Innkeeper - 06-21-2002
Well, alot has happened since 10/00. I got my money back, bought and received another Palm IIIxe, and use it daily. Have not yet jumped up to cell phones or Palm attacments thereto. It does keep me up to date on what wine I'm looking for on trips.
Sometimes I leave home for a night or two or more without the Palm, but never without my Wine Tote. This is the most indispensable "gadget" I've ever glommed onto.
Yesterday in news on the front of wines.com there was an article about totes, and the need to use them for red wine on summer picnics. It was in the online edition of U.S. News and World Report (though not in the hard copy for 24 June). Anyhow, that is a very good point. If you take a red from your 60 degree cellar and bring it to the beach, it can get cooked before you open it.
So, if you don't have one yet, get yourselves an insultated wine tote. You'll never leave home without it.
- hotwine - 06-21-2002
Right on, IK. I snagged a two-bottle insulated tote from California Innovations at the Container Store a few months ago. Can't recall the price, but believe it was on the order of $16 or so. It's home is now in the truck, on standby to protect some lone jewel (or two) from these scalding summer days. Between that, and an empty wooden case with inserts that sits behind the driver's seat, I'm prepared to cradle new lovelies home in comfort and safety as needed. But I still save wine shops for last on shopping trips, so purchases can be taken straight home.
A couple of questions regarding your Palm: Do you use it as a notepad for wines you want to look for, or do you also have a database installed, with vendors, prices, ratings, etc.? And do you link it to your PC, to update your cellarbook or database?
- Innkeeper - 06-21-2002
Just use the Notepad. Don't have anything on my PC except for a Wine Laid Down, and a Wine History file on my WP. Of the 150 or so bottles we keep on hand, only about 10% go into the Laid Down file, and only those consumed from that file go into Wine History. All the rest is managed by eyeball.
My Picnic Time Tote (http://www.picnictime.com) holds one bottle in an insulated compartment. It has another compartment that contains two glasses, two napkins, a waiters pal, and and a cork stopper. We bring it to BYOB restaurants, and any place we are staying overnight. No matter what the circumstances, its nice to have a glass or two before retiring.
- hotwine - 06-21-2002
It is indeed, and we do the same.
The idea of using a Palm to help keep track of wines to buy, wines to avoid, prices to be expected, vendors that are likely to carry each, etc., is appealing. Currently, I use a little pocket address book, and now supplement that with a Word file printed out before shopping.....too much. Maybe, if I can come up with additional uses for the Palm, I could rationalize a purchase.