Earlier this year, True Fabrications sent us samples of a few of their products. Since we were impressed with the quality of their products and they are located in Seattle, we decided to visit and learn more about the company. We had an opportunity to sit down with Nik Patel, marketing director and one of the founders, and Cyrus Shepard, website manager.

Background

Founded in 2004 by three college buddies from Berkeley, True Fabrications has grown to become the second largest wine accessory company in North America. Co-founder Dhruv Agarwal came up with the idea for the company after attending dinner parties in San Francisco. Like many of us, he would take a bottle of wine to the host of the party. He found it odd that wine was the only gift he would take to people that he did not wrap. At the time, wine bags were not available in stores as they are today. So he sketched some designs and approached stores about carrying them. When they said “yes,” he knew that he was onto something and approached his friends Nik Patel and Ben Inadomi about starting a wine bag company. Shortly thereafter, the three friends moved to Seattle and True Fabrications was born.

Their business grew rather quickly and after a couple of years, they were faced with a major decision. Patel remembers, “We had to sit down and ask ourselves, ‘Who do we want to be? Do we want to be a gift bag company like Hallmark or do we want to be a wine-related company?’” They chose to be a wine-related company; and today, they sell a line of hundreds of wine-related products, which are available in over 8,000 retail locations.

Products

Gift bags are still a large part of their business, and they focus a lot of time on offering cool new designs. “We want to stay the authority on wine bags,” said Patel. “But at the same time, we are adding all kinds of stuff and our accessories are on the way up.” Their development team designs many of the items they sell; others are designed and produced by other companies. “We brand many, but not all, of the items we sell. If it’s a cool product and we like it, we’ll offer it.”

After flipping through their most recent catalog, I realized that I have seen and purchased more True Fabrications products than I initially thought, from wine bags to wine glass charms to corkscrews to “What’s Your Vine?” t-shirts.

The sales team, product designers, and development people work out of the Seattle office. They manage production of the products throughout the United States and in eight foreign countries. Their designers are always looking for new ideas; so if you have an idea for a new wine-related product, send your suggestion to products@truefabrications.com.

One-Stop Shop

For wholesale customers, True Fabrications strives to be their one-stop shop. They sell to any retailers that sell wine including wine shops, wineries, grocery stores, and some gift stores. You may have seen their products in some large stores like Whole Foods, QFC, Kroger, and Cost Plus, but they also sell to thousands of small, independent stores.

True Fabrications understands that many of the retailers that carry their products are not able to spend much time making decisions about accessories. “We understand that this is not their core product line,” said Patel. “They sell wine, beer, and liquor. That’s why people come into their stores. These people are very busy. We want to be their source for all wine accessory items so they don’t have to think about it.” Shepard adds, “With our catalog, they can order everything in one place. I think this company does a very good job of helping those people out, rotating their product, given them sales tips, and exchanging items that are not selling.”

Online Sales

While their business is predominately wholesale, they also sell directly to consumers through their website. “One of our goals is to increase our direct to consumer sales online,” said Patel. “It has been a very small part of the business, but we want to make it a bigger part.” So the next time you are looking for a wine gadget to add to your own wine toolkit or need to find a gift for a wine-loving friend, you might want to check out True Fabrications.

True Fabrications: Selling All Things Wine, Except Wine was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Here are the basic types of wine bottle openers and when they work best:

• Waiter’s Friend – It looks like a pocketknife and is a very versatile opener. You can carry it in your pocket, keep it in your suitcase or your car, or use it at home. It’s what you see the waiter use to open a bottle at your table, thus the name. While different versions are offered at a wide range of prices, it is generally an inexpensive opener and sometimes is even a “giveaway” at a winery or wine event. The Waiter’s Friend takes some muscle and some getting used to, but it’s hard to beat for the price. Its usability and portability make it the perfect choice for a picnic or in a hotel room on vacation. Available in regular and double-hinged versions. I have found the double-hinged version much easier to use. (Price: ~$5 to $15)

• 
• Ah-So Opener – It’s the opener with two thin strips of metal that you slide down between the cork and the glass, then twist and pull to extract the cork. I find it trickier to use than the instructions indicate it should be. It really depends on the kind of cork you have whether it will work well or not. I wouldn’t recommend it for general use and certainly wouldn’t use it to remove synthetic corks, but it is good to have one around when you have a damaged or fragile cork. (Price: ~$10 to $30)

• Cork Pops – This is an air-pump cork remover that we previously reviewed and demonstrated in a video. You insert a hollow needle through the cork and then push on the end of the cartridge to force propellant into the bottle which “pops” the cork out. With a normal size cork, it works fine, but with an extra long cork, the needle may not be long enough to penetrate below the cork to release the propellant. For opening a number of bottles in a row at home (like we do for our monthly wine tasting dinners), it’s a good choice. However, the propellant cartridges have to be replaced after about 60 to 80 bottles. (Price: ~$20; replacement cartridges – package of two, ~$8)

• The Rabbit – There are a number of lever wine openers on the market, such as the Metrokane Rabbit and the Screwpull Elegance. There is a wide range in price, but they all seem to work about the same. The Rabbit has been a gift-giving favorite for years. I’ve found that they generally work as advertised in getting the cork out of the bottle. It’s when you then try to get the cork off of the “worm” that you often need some muscle and can pinch your fingers. There are also lever-type wine openers that attach to a bar or countertop, but for this post, I’m only evaluating the more portable hand-held types of openers. (Price: ~$30 to $120)

• Electric Opener – Light and mobile, you simply remove the opener from its charger base, place it over the top of the bottle, and it removes the cork with a touch of a button. Then, with another touch of a button, it releases the cork from the “worm”. It’s another opener that’s becoming popular as a gift item. We’ve found the Oster Model 4207 to be a good and reliable opener that will open a number of bottles on one charge. (Price: ~$20 to $25)

When it comes to wine bottle openers (as with most things), it boils down to personal preference and the circumstances in which you are using them. Personally, I use a double-hinged Waiter’s Friend most often, whether at home or traveling. But Dad prefers the Electric Opener for everyday use at home. The Waiter’s Friend seems to be the most versatile when traveling, and it’s a good idea to have an Ah-So or Cork Pops around to use when you run into a damaged cork. Of these five styles, The Rabbit is the one that I use least.

What is your favorite wine bottle opener?

(Photos from Amazon.com)

Wine Gadget: Wine Bottle Openers was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

StemGrip attaches to any vertical tine on your dishwasher’s bottom rack and the removable clips hold the wine glass stems in order to keep them from bumping, falling or cracking. The bottom line: they do work, but they are not quite as easy to use as the sales literature indicates. It is not a difficult process but can take some time to get the glasses positioned properly. I found out that Mom (LaGayle) has been using StemGrip for several years to wash her champagne flutes, but she feels they are too cumbersome to set up in the dishwasher to use for all of her stemware. In fact, she and I both use Riedel Ouverture and INAO tasting glasses as our everyday stemware which are dishwasher safe and will fit in the top rack of our dishwashers.

I would recommend StemGrip for long-stemmed wine glasses or champagne flutes that you feel comfortable putting in a dishwasher.

StemGrip is available online or at a retailer near you.

Have you used StemGrip? If so, how has it worked for you?

Full disclosure: We received StemGrip as a sample.

Wine Gadget: StemGrip was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Cork Pops is available online or at a retailer near you.

Here’s a short video to demonstrate Cork Pops in action:

Cheers!

Wine Gadget: Cork Pops was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Some of these items I actually own and can recommend from personal experience, some I’ve had wine-loving friends tell me about, and some are actually on my own wish list this year. This list is certainly not exhaustive but hopefully it will give you a place to start.

Wine Books:

• For those new to wine, How to Taste by Jancis Robinson.
• For those who love wine (especially French wine) and history, Bordeaux/Burgundy by Jean-Robert Pitte and Noble Rot by William Echikson.
• For those interested in wine and politics, Wine Politics by Tyler Colman.
• For those “wine-heads” who want to delve deeper into the wine closures discussion, To Cork or Not to Cork by William Taber.
• For those interested in Washington State wine, Washington Wines & Wineries by Paul Gregutt and WineTrails of Washington by Steve Roberts.

Wine accessories/gadgets:

• VinTemp, infrared wine thermometer
• Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Instant Wine Chiller
• Good wine glasses, Viticole Tasting Glasses for hosting wine tasting dinners and Riedel Crystal Glasses for everyday use but especially to enjoy those collectible wines.
• Champagne/Sparkling Wine Stopper
• Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator

Wine:
A bottle or two (or three, or twelve) of wine itself can be a great gift but sometimes can be a bit daunting to select. There are thousands and thousands of wines out there and a lot depends on how much you would like to spend and the taste of the person for whom you are buying. Rather than recommend a few specific wines here, I’d like to refer you back to a couple previous posts that list great wines at great prices plus a list of “Wow!” wines with a wide range of prices:

• Super Bargain Wines for Tough Times
• Super Bargain Wines in the $10 to $25 Range
• “Wow!” Wines can be Bargains, too

If you have other wine gift ideas, please share them in the comments.

Happy Holidays!

Gift Ideas for the Wine Lovers on your List was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

If any of these situations have come up for you as they have for me, one easy solution is to buy a couple of Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Instant Wine Chillers and keep them in your freezer. The Vacu Vin chiller is like a super cold, flexible ice jacket that can chill your wine quickly and keep it relatively cold.

The Vacu Vin ads say that it chills a wine bottle in five minutes and keeps it cold for three hours. I decided to quantify that a bit and see for myself.

I did a test on a bottle of white wine that was sitting on a wine rack at 70 degrees F (determined by my handy VinTemp that Kori posted about on October 6). After ten minutes in a Vacu Vin chiller, the temperature of the wine was down to 50 degrees F, which is an ideal serving temperature for a dry white wine. An hour later, it was at 55 degrees which is still within the ideal serving temperature range.

Another bottle I pulled out of the fridge was 40 degrees F which is actually colder than ideal. Nevertheless, I put a Vacu Vin chiller on it to see if it would hold the temperature, and after one hour, it was still at 40 degrees. It appears from my limited test that it does a better job of just keeping wine cold than it does when you ask it to both chill the wine and keep it cold.

I’ve had my Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Instant Wine Chillers for over five years and have used them repeatedly. As you read above, they still do a good job. You can buy the Vacu Vin chillers in many wine shops from $10-$15 each or order online from Amazon for $9.99.

Have you used these Vacu Vin chillers? If so, how have they worked for you?

Wine Gadget: Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Instant Wine Chiller was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Today’s featured wine gadget is the VinTemp, an infrared wine thermometer. I received the VinTemp for Christmas last year and have found it to be a very handy item to have.

Different wines have different optimal serving temperatures. Here’s a general guideline for approximate serving temperatures (in degrees Fahrenheit):

Sparkling wines and sweet wines: 45-50
Dry white and rose table wines: 50-60
Light-bodied red table wines: 55-65
Full-bodied red table wines: 62-68

The VinTemp allows you to check the temperature of your wine from outside the bottle. Using infrared technology, it measures the temperature of the wine inside the bottle and gives you a digital readout. If the wine is not in its optimal serving range, then you can either put it in the refrigerator to cool a bit or let it sit out a while longer to warm up. Then simply test it again using the VinTemp to see if it is ready.

If this sounds like something you’d find helpful, visit one of these online retailers to pick one up.

Wine Gadget: VinTemp was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.