If you are a wine rep, there is one thing you need; one thing that defines you as a professional (and human being)- the thing you carry all your wine in. Kidding! Not really.
Every rep has a preference in wine carriers and I’ve seen it all- the mini suitcase with wheels, the over the shoulder bag (or one of each), an old school Igloo cooler and even a Trader Joe’s insulated bag when the going has gotten especially rough. The common theme with most of these wine transportation situations is that they aren’t that great looking. Trying to be stylish? Good luck and God speed.
Enter Ben Andersen and what I will refer to as The Ben Bag.
Ben is the West Coast Regional Manager for Rosenthal Wine Merchant and he is a wine bag genius. He purchased a seriously handsome bag from RRL by Ralph Lauren in NYC for around $400 (not cheap, but perhaps worth it). His exact bag is no longer available, but there are similar styles currently on the site and in stores.
THEN he bought a Cool Tote and put that inside the RRL bag. Voila! Style and function.
“Bought it at The Wine House for $49, I think. This is sort of the standard issue wine bag. When I saw the RRL bag, I was pretty sure the “Cool Tote” would fit perfectly inside it, and, fortunately, it did…In fact, there is room for an extra bottle on each end, outside of the 6 bottle insulated insert.”
I think the bag inside of a bag idea is BRILLIANT and leaves you with unlimited possibilities of inner/outer combinations. Here are a few more ideas for the outer situation since Cool Tote kinda has us covered on the inner: Baggu bucket, Filson tote or field bag, LeSportsac tote and Jack Spade Pop Top Brief.
Down with the wheelie case! Get thee a shoulder bag…and possible back pain. But these are things we must do in the name of style.
Photos provided by Ben for BHMF. And then one I stole from Facebook…
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Very clever!
I just pinned this to my Cool Wine Products board on Pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/vinesleuth/
I love the way you think!!
thanks for the pin Amy!
Love it. yay for combining form AND function for once!
Well played, Ben. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to carrying more than 5 bottles on my shoulder, especially for the first few appointments of the day… “Anything you’d like to revisit? Please??”