I recently got my hands on a very simple but clever little appliance which has become one of my favorite wino gadgets, the Aardvark Strainer set. It consists of a bright yellow (or neon green), plastic strainer with the unique patented design of a tapering, blunt-ended cone, along with a 1-cup-volume plastic holder which the strainer fits snuggly into. Originally invented by Dan McDonald of Minneapolis, Minnesota as a solution to the foamy mess which results from making root beer floats in the traditional way, the strainer has been found to have a broad range of purposes. 

What do I use it for, you ask?

On hot summer nights when I have friends over and I forget to buy the wine until last minute, and it’s a Chardonnay or a Torrontés, and the only store that is still open only has un-chilled bottles. In this situation, the choices of the host are limited:

1) hope that the guests bring a white which is at a more appropriate temperature (although if they are making a journey to your place, it probably won’t be by the time they get there),
2) stick the just-bought white in the freezer while you entertain wine-less guests (just don’t forget to take it out before it turns into ice),
3) serve the wine at room temperature (which on a hot, humid summer day won’t make you very popular) or
4), which is probably the most frowned upon option, add ice cubes directly to each glass of wine (and hope the frozen-meat, freezer flavor of the ice doesn’t blemish that of the wine or that the melted water doesn’t dilute it too much).

As I am a particularly picky host, none of these three options do it for me.

Aardvark Strainer to the rescue! Just fill the strainer with ice, place the tapered end into a wine glass (it is designed to fit into most styles of glass) and pour the lukewarm white over it. The wine flows over the ice, cooling from room temperature to around 9-10° Celcius in just a few seconds, and pours into the glass, leaving it frosty with condensation! It takes only a few seconds and can be done individually for each glass. The flavor of the wine is not affected by the ice which it touches only for an instant, nor the strainer which is made of a non-corrosive plastic. The strainer is small, so it doesn’t take up much space like traditional wine coolers often do. At $9.99 (plus shipping and handling), it is also very inexpensive. Not to mention the fact that the logo is an adorable, smiling green aardvark with a strainer-like nose.

Check out the many other uses of the Aardvark Strainer by watching their product video below and get yourself one today!

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