As a home drinker, there is a good chance that you would not own a dedicated wine refrigerator as a daily essential. However, it would be such a massive waste to serve wines at room temperature since it damages the original flavor profiles of the art-like liquid, a big no-no, especially if you are hoping to impress your guests by serving white wine at that upcoming home dinner or wine-tasting party.
Whatever the case is, worry not because Two More Glasses always has your back. Read below for an- all-in-one guide on how to chill white wine.
Plan ahead
The life advice of all time applies to wine chilling as well. Start getting ready earlier, by this, we mean just an hour or two, and stick your bottle of white wine into the fridge before serving. If you have to open the fridge very frequently to curate other delicacies, put the bottle further back in the fridge, similar to how you store other food items. They would be good to go in an hour or two, depending on the wine style. The optimal temperature of the fridge would be between 35°F and 40°F.
Utilize the freezer
Just like any other food and drink items, chilling wines in a freezer can get the job done perfectly. The only reminder is to store the white wine on its side before serving. This maximizes the surface area in contact with the cold surface area of your freezer, speeding up the wine chilling process.
Make sure you also set a timer of 30 minutes before you load the white wine into the ice maker. This is to avoid the cocking out or cracking of the bottle because of the sudden and severe temperature change of the liquid. (You know what, mark this down for every kind of liquid!)
Salt – the shortcut to wine chilling
If you are in a hurry before serving, submerging your white wine in ice and salted water is a lifesaver hack. Slip the bottle in for an icy, table salt bath in a container big enough to fit the entire bottle. Scientifically speaking, salt greatly reduces the freezing point of any liquid by absorbing heat to lower than 32˚F. For those who are less of a Maths lover, this means that you could cool down a bottle of rosé in around 15 minutes.
If you do not even have 15 minutes to spare, move the bottle around the salty water every few minutes. Note that you must not do this with Champagnes and sparkling wines or you would have to spend an extra 20 minutes cleaning up the mess caused by a potential explosive scene, which I guess is not that ideal.
For Singles and Glasses
This one is for those who are on the go without a lot of appliances to choose from. Surprisingly this may sound, bringing an insulated tote bag with a capacity of 2-4 bottles along with your single bottle, or a sleeve stored in the freezer are alternative life hacks.
If you just cannot wait to sip on a single glass of white wine, pour it into a wine glass and chill them together before serving. To prevent oxidation and keep the aromas from other storage items in the fridge, put on a plastic wrap. This is simple science – the smaller the quantity, the shorter time required to bring down the temperature. This would take you around 30 minutes to have this glass of chilled white wine ready for serving.
The ultimate how-to trick, if you only have minutes left to chill that glass of white wine for serving, simply pop a few frozen grapes into the glass. This is a visually appealing alternative to ice cubes that avoid diluting the wine in a matter of minutes. Likewise, you can also keep a few reusable ice cubes in your freezer for wine chilling emergency situations like this.
What should not be done for wine chilling?
Dish towel: Some may say that wrapping your wine bottle in a dish towel (or paper towels) before sticking it in the freezer will accelerate the wine chilling process. Instead of coming to the rescue, it is exactly the opposite since the towel would insulate and separate the bottle’s surface from the cold freezer’s surface.
Cooling pour spout and stem glass: Similarly to a freezer stick for your wine. After opening the bottle and pouring the first glass, you insert the spout and serve. It is not like they do not do the job, but it takes at least 2 hours in the freezer for them to be useful. If you have that time available, you might as well place the entire bottle of wine into the fridge for chilling, right?
After all, wine chilling is like wine buying; it takes time to get the best result. If you are looking for other wine-related advice and top-quality wine, do not hesitate to get in touch with our experienced team for more!