Wine Tips: How to chill white wine quickly

Hi Guys,

It’s Ben Silver, your favorite Magician and Certified Sommelier from Ben Silver Magic.

As Spring is in the air and Summer quickly approaches white wines and rose’s are a great option for refreshment, but what if you want a glass of white wine right way or some friends or your alcoholic chardonnay loving aunt stops by with the shakes and needs a glass of wine to get back to normal and all you have is room temperature wine. Well, here are some Classic Sommelier methods and other Magical tips on how to chill wine quickly. I’ll introduce ideas for quick chilling (10-30 minutes) and super quick (3-5 minutes).

Super Quick Chilling is not the classiest way to chill wine and should never be utilized in a restaurant setting, however, it is very fast and effective and perfectly fine to do around family and friends.

Frozen/ Chilled Glass – Always keep a few pint glasses in the freezer, if not for this trick, for the sake of enjoying a beer more thoroughly so it can open up and you have a chance to enjoy its aromas which rarely are enjoyed out of the can or bottle.

What to do? Super Easy! Pour the room temperature white wine into the chilled glass and swirl it around the glass for a minute or so. For even quicker chilling and aerating use two glasses and swirl them and pour them back and forth. The chilled cold glass will chill the wine with diluting it. When the wine is at the preferred temperature pour it in a wine glass. You’ll be surprised how fast and effective this is. Like its’s magic… Kind of like Ben Silver Magic.

2. Frozen Grapes- You don’t have to be a Mentalist to predict what I’m about to say. PUT SOME GRAPES IN THE FREEZER. That’s it!

What to do? Put some grapes in a seal tight zip-lock bag and put them in the freezer. Destem them first. When you want to chill wine put a few of these grapes inside the wine and swirl it around. The grapes will not dilute the wine like ice will and eventually you’ll have a snack. I recommend to remove the grapes when they start to thaw and before they get mushy which can impact the flavors of the wine. They also make plastic ice cubes, which can be used for a similar effect. I don’t recommend scotch rocks that impart a stoney minerality to the wine and can also absorb some of the flavors of what you put them in.

Quick Chilling, which is the appropriate Sommelier method. Best used for polite company and in restaurant setting, chills the wine while the bottle still unopened. The best method is to create a Salty Slushy Icy Wine Bath.

What do you need?

An ice bucket/ champagne bucket, or a big/ huge sauce pan.

Lots of Ice.

Lots of salt. Table salt or kosher salt both work.

A human hand… to spin the bottle, or a robotic hand if you have the means and are super lazy or a hand model.

What to do?

Add ice to the Champagne bucket about half way up. Next, add at least 4 ounces of Salt to the bucket, and then fill with cool water from the sink. Then insert the bottle into the salty icy wine bath. Every few minutes spin the wine bottle around in the bucket so the wine inside moves around and has a chance to contact the cool glass which will help chill it. If possible, put the wine bucket with the wine inside a freezer or refrigerator.

At the end of the day, if you know you are going to be drinking a special white wine or champagne, just put the wine in the fridge a few hours before. I recommend pulling most whites out of the fridge and letting them rest at room temperature 20-30 minutes before you drink them so the cold temperature doesn’t mask the flavors. However, Champagne and Pinot Grigio I do recommend super cold and crisp.

Let me know if you have found these tips helpful. If you have some other ones, please leave a comment or you contact me.