Cons: tends to splatter water a bit until it is dialed in.
A few weeks ago ChefTalk.com reviewed the Cooper Chiller which turned out to be an excellent appliance for cooling many types of beverages. One minor drawback with the Cooper Chiller was the cooling chamber was not large enough to handle large bottles of wine or 2 liter bottles of pop.
Enter the Vin Podium, Revolutionary Cooling Systems’ answer to rapidly cooling larger bottles of wine.
The Vin Podium works on exactly the same principles as the Cooper Cooler. Ice Cold water cascades over the bottle and cools the container in a relatively short amount of time. The main difference is that the Vin Podium does not spin the bottle as does the Cooper Cooler. Instead, the bottle rests on a support as water cascades over the bottle like a waterfall. Cooling takes a little longer since the bottle does not rotate during the chilling process. But, the idea is to enjoy watching the chilling process for its aesthetic appeal.
Similar to the Cooper Cooler, we really liked that the Vin Podium is compact and easy to store. It is a great option for anyone who wants a stylish way to chill their wines, but does not want to purchase a wine refrigerator. In addition to being able to handle larger wine bottles, the Vin Podium also allows the user to manually set the chilling time. This gives you a bit more control over how cold you want the final wine temperature to be. The chilling time is relatively quick (7 or so minutes to get to 50 degrees Fahrenheit and around 12 minutes to get to 40 degrees Fahrenheit).
The only disadvantage of the Vin Podium was that we had to adjust the top to each bottle of wine in a customized manner. This served to be a process of trial and error. When a bottle is initially placed in the Vin Podium, you must then adjust the top piece of the Vin Podium in order that it rests at the right distance from the bottle. During the cooling process, the water cascades from the top of the neck and down over the bottle. If the water comes out too quickly or is not the right distance from the bottle, it will cause water to splatter onto the surface upon which the Vin Podium sits. We had to spend several minutes trying to adjust the water flow and distance with a larger wine bottle. Once the water flow is properly adjusted, the rest of the cooling process is fine. We did not have as much trouble with regular sized wine bottles. Water splashing out of the cooler was not a problem with the Cooper Cooler, but on the other hand, the Cooper Cooler was not as captivating to watch during the cooling process as was the Vin Podium.
Overall, we liked the Vin Podium for its visual appeal and but we preferred the Cooper Cooler for its ability to chill a wider variety of beverages.
You can check out the Vin Podium website here: http://www.vinpodium.com/
