The ChillinJoy: Portable Wine Chiller from Chicago's Very Own

While strolling through the Windy City Wine Festival last month, I met Chris & Christin Poterek, co-founders of ChillinJoy.  I do get a bit excited when I see new wine gadgets, so I decided to investigate.

ChillinJoy is a portable wine chiller, capable of keeping any 750ml bottle cold for hours.  This allows you to enjoy picnics, concerts (Ravinia!), BYO restaurants, or a trip to the beach, while keeping a favorite bottle of wine at the temperature you like it: nice and cold.  You can also use it for just sitting in front of the TV, now with no trips back and forth to the fridge.

Chris & Christin are both from Chicago, and invented the ChillinJoy.  They love wine and enjoying it outdoors, so they sought out an invention to keep their bottles cool.  They both have participated in the Triathlon, and decided to use their wet suits stuffed with ice packs to keep a bottle cold.  Success! 

I recently received a sample ChillinJoy from the Potereks to try out.  The ChillinJoy is made with neoprene, and comes with three small ice packs.  I decided to use it with one of my favorite whites, Grgich Hills Chardonnay.  The wine was stored in my Cuisinart at a constant temperature of 57 degrees Farenheit, a great temperature for a fuller bodied white wine.  I added the ice packs to the ChillinJoy's storage pouches, and inserted the bottle.  I zipped up the top, which has a cutout sized perfectly to fit the neck of the bottle, leaving it exposed for pouring.  The ChillinJoy not only kept the wine at a cool temperature for hours, but also brought the temperature down after a while.  Since I keep my reds stored around 60 degrees, and drink them that way too, I would suggest using this for white and red transportation.  One thing the ChillinJoy does not do is a great job of chilling a room temperature wine- this takes about an hour.

This is the ideal travel companion, as it not only comes with a shoulder strap, but contains two small side pockets, which easily fit a corkscrew and stopper.  I will be taking this to all of my BYO and future picnic and Ravinia excursions.  If you get a chance, order yourself one.  It costs $24.99, which includes shipping, and comes in blue or green.  When you are sipping some chilled wine at your favorite BYO restaurant, you will be happy you did.

Check back and tell me what you think of your ChillinJoy.

 

(Top photo courtesy of Chilled Portable Products)