A Chilling Discovery

No doubt about it, I’m a gadget guy. That’s not to say I collect doo-hickeys for the sake of having more doo-hickeys, but if there is a thingamajig out there that a.) works b.) makes my life easier, and c.) is reasonably priced, I want it in my tool kit.

The Ravi Wine Refresher

Naturally, I was excited to get my Ravi Instant Wine Refresher in the mail. What is a Ravi? Well, if you’ve ever been to a kegger that had a beer tap hooked into a hose than ran back and forth through an ice chest, you get the idea how the Ravi works. The Ravi is seven inches long and fits on the top of your wine bottle. You keep it in the freezer and when you’re ready, you stick it on the end of your bottle and pour. The wine winds its way through the chilled device and comes out the spout at the perfect temperature.

Pretty cool, huh?

[A quick word to my gadget-oriented brothers and sisters that only they will understand: I absolutely did not read the directions on how to use the Ravi before proceeding.]

So, I pulled up a sturdy wooden chair at the Emory University Outdoor Pool one muggy, 85-degree afternoon in June to put the Ravi through its paces. I brought three different types of wines to see how it worked in various situations. Even without the aid of the extensive explanations and diagrams, I was able to assemble the Ravi and pour my wine through it.

The first wine was a simple, pleasant McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia ($12). In short, it worked. The wine gurgled through the contraption and I controlled its flow by manipulating a small air hole on the side.

Many of you may be surprised that I chose a red wine to test drive the Ravi. But this device was more or less made for red wines. Nearly everyone, including me most of the time, serves their red wines too warm. The common notion is that you serve red wines at room temperature, right? Well, that’s about 72 degrees or higher in most homes and certainly higher on a hot pool deck. The generally accepted service temperature for red wines is about 55 degrees, slightly higher for some, lower for others.

Using my wine thermometer (yes, another gadget), I determined the McWilliam’s was a balmy 78 degrees in the bottle. The Ravi brought it down to just about 60 degrees. For those who’ve never tried a cabernet sauvignon at this temperature, you’ll find the berry flavors to be more pronounced and the burning alcohol sensations more subdued.

Alright, I decided to see what this baby could do, so I brought along a 2007 Fess Parker, Clone 115, Pinot Noir from California’s Santa Rita Hills ($55 and one of my hedonistically favorite wines). Pinot noir should be served a little cooler than big, bad cabs so you can enjoy the typically lighter, brighter, tart fruit flavors. I was hoping for a sub-60 degree pour.

If you let a tiny bit of wine flow through the Ravi, then hold your finger over the air hole to restrict the flow, you can make the wine cooler. Which it did. I registered 58 degrees. I’m declaring success. A 58 degree pinot is a lot more enjoyable than a 78-degree pinot noir.

If I had taken the time to read the press materials and the directions, I would have found out what I suspected: the Ravi is not really indicated for white wines. And as you might expect, I had to try it with a white wine.

I brought another fave wine, a Patz & Hall Napa Valley Chardonnay ($36). This chard, a rather full-bodied wine, doesn’t need to get down to the mid-40s to be enjoyed like your sauvignon blancs and pinot grigios. I would be happy with 55 degrees, but would prefer just a little cooler. I tipped the bottle over, let the wine gurgle into but not out of the Ravi and counted to 20. Then, I very slowly poured about 2 ounces in my glass. Voila! Forty-nine degrees! It was perfect.

The directions, which I eventually read, did not say that you could put your Ravi in a small cooler of ice and bring it to the beach. But I’m saying you can. You can also pour any color wine you want through it. So for all the wine-soaked gadget guys in you life this Father’s Day, tell them to chill out with a Ravi (suggested retail: $49.95). Visit www.WineEnthusiast.com or go to www.RaviSolutions.com to locate a retailer near you.