Besides this main feature, the chiller can serve two other purposes. First, after corking and pouring the first round of glasses, the chiller can serve in place of a more expensive metal bucket or crystal chiller, especially when it has a pleasing pattern or scene (most of these I have seen are a plain silver). Second, the chiller is great for bring bottles of white wine to friends' homes that you want to share immediately. Many people start with whites and if you are bringing a room-temperature white, it's annoying having to wait for it to chill in the freezer. Those 15-30 minutes may see your bottle passed over and forgotten. But with the Rapid Ice chiller, you can arrive with a bottle that's ready to drink immediately, even if traveling to your friends' took a while.

36 of 37 found the following review helpful:

Chill The Wine & Cut The Whine  Dec 14, 2000

This soft, pliable, unbreakable wine chiller from Vacu Vin is a whimsical yet practical idea. Notice I omitted the adjective "rapid". It does take a bit longer than 5 minutes to suitably chill a completely warm bottle of wine or sparkling cider, depending on the bottle size and the sipper's preferences.

The first time a good friend of ours gifted us with a pleasant Zinfandel, his interest was so piqued as I took the chilling sleeve from the freezer, placed the bottle in and told him we could start tasting in about 10 minutes, that he just kept staring at the chiller throughout our conversation! And, Guy Buffet's comical sommeliers cleverly help waiting time fly by. As a side bar, we also have used this as an emergency ice pack. My son had grazed his arm on a hot oven rack, I grabbed it out of the freezer and slid it over my sons forearm. Worked like a charm.

Whether for wine or whine, these make artistically practical gifts for you, perhaps on boss's day, or for that person that just has everything!

33 of 34 found the following review helpful:

Very smart product, great gift  Aug 08, 2000
By Eric Antonow
Talk about a problem to solve. You buy a bottle of white wine or somebody unexpectedly brings one over and you have to wait (oh no!) 20 minutes for it to chill. Seems a bit pathetic but that modest delay can crush the spirit, a veritable purgatory. I agree with the other reviewer that 5 minutes is a bit ambitous, but in 10 the bottle is ready to rumble. This, along with its cousin the 'wine saver' are two of the best inexpesive gifts for people that drink wine. Because many folks already have the wine saver, this is a less risky gifting venture -- I promise they won't have it and they'll think that it's brilliant. Lastly, the second use -- keeping an open bottle cold during dinner -- is a great alternative to the ice bucket and takes much less room on the table.

19 of 19 found the following review helpful:

Keep one in your freezer!  Oct 03, 2000
By Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast"
I use mine CONSTANTLY and give them as gifts quite a bit. It's easy - you simply keep this in your freezer, and when you want to drink a bottle of white wine, slip it on. If the wine was warm to start with it might take 10 minutes to get it down chilled, but after that it'll stay nice and cool while you leisurely work your way through the bottle. When you're done, just toss it back in the freezer and it'll shortly be ready for the next usage!

Out of all the interesting wine items that have come out in the past decade or two, this is definitely the most helpful one. Every home should have one!

23 of 24 found the following review helpful:

Does the job- but not in 5 minutes  Jan 08, 2002
By Patricia Miller
Although it does take a little longer to chill a bottle of wine ( in about 10 minutes, not 5 ), this product is still amazingly convenient! It really does work on a bottle of room temperature wine AND when left on, it keeps the bottle cold at the dinner table. I plan on buying more to give as gifts.

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