Not everything I do on here is reviewing wine. Sometimes I get to review wine related products. This happens to be one of those times. Several weeks ago some samples from Bella Vita Bags arrived for me to check out. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and I didn’t get to use them until more recently as I wasn’t going anywhere that I would need them – namely my deck on a hot day. Fortunately the weather has changed and my wife and I have tried them out during several forays onto the deck to enjoy wine in the sun.
I received three different chiller bags to try, the Chill It 6, the Chill It 1C Green, and then Chill It 1 Blue. The Chill It 1 Blue is perfect for keeping most of your standard wine bottles chilled, though it will work for most any bottles you’re looking to keep cold to be honest (they also say it works well for liquor bottles, which I can see).
The Chill It 1C Green will also work well for most bottles, but it was larger and I think it would work better for bottles of sparkling wine which tend to be a bit wider. We actually did put a bottle of sparkling in the Chill It 1C and it did a good job of keeping it cold.
The Chill It 6 is designed for beer or sodas and while this website is clearly about wine, I have to say that this may have been my favorite one since I didn’t have anything in my house beyond a much larger cooler to keep a six-pack of beer cold should I decide to take it outdoors. I see this one in particular getting a lot of use at my house as the weather continues to turn warmer.
One thing of note, and I can’t stress this one enough, is that the bags say to allow them to defrost slightly when taking them out of the freezer before you really open them up to place a bottle in. They’re not joking around. We may have broken the Chill It 1 Blue by opening it too soon and having it crack and start to leak the gel. Learn from my mistake and don’t let this happen to you. Give it time to defrost.
Also included with the Chill It bags was a a Bella Vita Net Bag, which won the 2013 IHA Innovation award for home decor and gifts. This bag doesn’t look like much, just a small disc, but place a bottle in the center, grab the sides and lift, and you have a handy way to carry a bottle of wine that quickly collapses down into something that will fit into many purses or small bags.
As of right now Bella Vita Bags only appears to be doing wholesale from their website, so check your local stores if this is something you’re interested in. I’ve seen lots of similar chill bags, but I do have to say that I was pretty impressed with the overall quality of these bags – they felt sturdy in the hand and let’s be honest, the one I broke was because I didn’t follow instructions.
