What’s the best way to chill down a bottle of wine quickly?
Hello there! I'm Dr. Vinifera, but you can call me Vinny. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the fine points of etiquette to the science of winemaking. And don't worry, I'm no wine snob—you can also ask me those "dumb questions" you're too embarrased to ask your wine geek friends! I hope you find my answers educational, empowering and even amusing. And don't forget to check out my most asked questions and my full archives for all my Q&A classics.
Dear Dr. Vinny,
What’s the best way to chill down a bottle of wine quickly?
—Cameron, Indianapolis
Dear Cameron,
Oh, I know this one! We’ve all been there—you go to reach for a bottle of white wine, rosé or bubbles, only to find that you don’t have any chilled bottles ready to go. Luckily, there’s a foolproof way to get your wine down to the ideal serving temperature ASAP. (Check out our Instagram Reel to see our test of different methods!)
You might think that putting a bottle—or even a smaller amount of wine, like a carafe or single glass—in a fridge or freezer would be the best method. Many people swear by wrapping a bottle in a wet paper towel and putting it in the freezer. That’s better than the fridge alone, but there’s an even faster method.
The fastest way to chill a bottle down is to submerge it in a container of ice, water and salt. You don’t need a fancy ice bucket—I just use a pitcher, a big bowl, or sometimes a small cooler. You could even use a good old-fashioned five-gallon bucket!
Don’t forget the salt. I’ll add a good handful of rock salt if I have it. Salt lowers the freezing point of the ice. (Scientifically, the phenomenon is called “freezing point depression,” but that sounds a little, well, depressing.) But don’t fear: This just means the salt disrupts the way the water molecules would normally arrange themselves. The result is that for the salty ice to melt, more energy needs to be absorbed from the surroundings, which causes the mixture to get colder faster.
Rotate the bottle a few times to keep the salty solution moving around the bottle, and in about 15 to 20 minutes you should be good to go. Pro tip: The more you rotate the bottle in the cold bath, the faster it’ll chill down.
—Dr. Vinny
