Team C&J
As you know from a few of our previous posts, serving wine at its ideal temperature (55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit for red and 45 to 55 degrees F for whites) is crucial to getting the most out of your bottle.
Whether you forgot to store that bottle of red or white in your wine fridge, or you just received your latest wine club shipment and want to crack open your favorite winery’s latest vintage, knowing how to chill wine quickly will allow you to enjoy a glass before you can make it through the tasting notes!
Adding salt to a bucket of ice can chill a bottle of wine in minutes. If you live in a state prone to freezing roads, then you probably already know the science behind salt and ice. If you don’t, then this hack for how to chill a bottle of wine quickly is a must-learn trick.
You see, salt lowers the freezing point of water, which means that the ice in the bucket will melt more quickly. As the ice melts, the cold, cold water will supercharge your chill. All you need to do is turn the bottle every minute or so for around ten minutes, and you will have a perfectly chilled wine.
This trick also works for beer, soft drinks, or other canned or bottled beverages you may haul in a cooler to a BBQ or the beach.
Placing a bottle of wine in the freezer will give you a chilled bottle of wine in about 35-40 minutes. This hack for chilling wine may seem like a no-brainer, but it comes with one caveat: leaving that bottle in the freezer for too long will cause the bottle to explode.
To avoid a broken bottle in the freezer, set a timer. If you’re busy preparing for guests and you are worried you will forget about the bottle, this is a foolproof method for avoiding an exploding bottle. The second tip to follow when chilling wine in the freezer: place the bottle on its side rather than upright. Laying the bottle horizontally will expand the wine’s surface area, allowing it to cool quickly.
A quick note about this method: some sites mention placing a wet towel around the wine prior to placing the bottle in the freezer, but the additional layer of the towel will actually slow the cooling process down. If you use your freezer to chill your wine, skip the towel.
Corkcicle wine chillers are simple yet effective for chilling wine. This handy wine gadget can bring a room-temperature bottle of wine to serving temperature in just 15 minutes. The icicle-like design also works as an aerator too, so you can easily introduce oxygen to the bottle while chilling.
Keeping one or two Corkcicles in your freezer for easy use ensures you can have wine chilled in a jiff.
Let’s be honest. Part of the fun of entertaining with wine is the presentation. While this wine chiller is meant to be used with bottles that already have a little chill on them, the Crate & Barrel Ice-Mold/Wine Chiller will have everyone at your party asking: how did you make that gorgeous ice centerpiece to chill your wine, and where can I get one?
For spring and summer parties, make a mold of lemon, grapefruit, or orange slices. Or, add a few flowers to the ice mold. For holiday parties, adding mini pinecones or pieces of evergreen creates a woodland feel for those winter white wines.
The ice mold melts leisurely over six hours in a beautiful stainless steel coaster for easy clean-up.
While we do not support placing ice cubes in your wine glass (oh, the humanity!), there is one efficient trick to chill a glass of wine that does not involve diluting the wine itself.
Wine-Chilling Wands
These wine-chilling wands from Williams-Sonoma work just like the Corkcicle, but instead of placing them in a bottle of wine, you place them directly in the glass. The best selling point of this handy gadget wine gadget? Your glass of wine (or champagne) will be ready in just minutes.
The refrigerator may seem like an efficient way to chill wine, but it is actually incredibly inefficient when compared to other methods. Placing a bottle of wine in a refrigerator relies on cold air to cool the wine, rather than ice-cold liquid, or placing a cooling device directly into the juice.
Chilling a bottle of wine in the refrigerator may take as long as two and a half hours for a bottle of red wine, and a painful three hours for a bottle of white wine.
Your better bet is to use one of the other tips to chill wine quickly.
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