Eco Friendly Product Guide

The oak barrels from wine making are often only used once or twice, which means hundreds of them each year are discarded.  Innovative green folk have been finding ways to upcycle the wood and use it to make all kinds of wonderful products, including these handsome cuff links.

The rich, wine-stained wood is inset in genuine sterling silver for a classic look.  Whether the man in your life is a greenie or wine lover–or both–this is a perfect gift suitable for any special occasion. Available from Eco-Artware.com for $130.

The wine bottle is commonly welcomed as a gift with open arms at many social events. I’m not going to lie to you, if I see you show up at my door for a dinner party and you’ve got the trusty wine bag in your hand it means you have come bearing gifts…and ultimately, found the key to my heart.

Nubius Organics sells these Vintage Sari Wine Bags by Kismet, which win on many levels: they meet fair trade standards, are recyclable, and reusable. Not to mention, all Kismet products are handmade with eco-friendly items (stuff that is recyclable, vintage, you name it). This means that you also get a unique product each time you purchase one.

Each bag is made from a vintage sari by hand, so you are guaranteed a unique wine bottle bag every time.

In addition, it’s reusable, so you can think up all sorts of clever uses for the bag after the bottle of wine is out. This is one gift people will be ok regifting.

So going for $9.50 each, you get a one-of-a-kind bag that holds a standard bottle of wine, and is good for the environment. I’ll toast to that!

Remember that old cliché about wine, that you will be “amused by its presumption”? Well, you will be amazed by this wine carrier’s lack of pretension.

In times past if you wanted to take a bottle of wine on a picnic, to a friend’s house or to a restaurant you had to convey it in a chichi little wicker basket or a tooled leather holder. These days you go right ahead and carry it in a raw-looking pocket made of factory waste.

The purveyors of this wine pocket actually try to pitch it to you as “a communion of bottle and wine”. Gosh, This pocket is made from stuff that resembles the felt used under wall-to-wall carpets. Indeed, these pockets are made from “grey industrial wool felt made from factory excess (85% wool and 15% mixed fibers)” according to the blurb.

Bottoms Up

Not just any old creation though, we are told. With a straight face the creators say this super-plain bag is “the result of an exercise in reducing the amount of material and labor required to protect wine during transit”.

It does have one huge positive characteristic. The Wine Pocket stores flat (a great space saver for those endless months when you never take a bottle of wine anywhere) and expands to fit most bottles.

What would you expect to pay for this modest little item measuring 6.5in x 16.5in. and made in the USA? I would expect to pay very little.

Well, Natural Territory is asking $29.00.