With the day’s meetings all wrapped, reports finished and out of the way and that last email sent, its time to join the commuting hordes and head for home. And as the evenings draw out, with the prospective of some sunshine promised at last, what better thought to muse on the way there than putting that key in the door, slipping on the shades and relaxing over a chilled glass of delicious vino.
So there is little more annoying than discovering that rather tasty white you’ve finally settled on has been in the rack all day and is now tepid or even luke-warm. Ugh!
Contrary to popular opinion, shoving it into the freezer in-between the chips and peas is not the best solution. The science of freezer cooling is all about convection – air surrounding the bottle is below freezing and this causes the temperature to drop. So to chill to an ideal 4°C to 8°C the bottle will need at least half an hour in the deep freeze. If you’re a risk taker and the freezer seems the best solution, at least wrapping the bottle in a damp wet tea towel, will speed up the chilling process. But be warned! It only takes one preoccupying phone call and the risks are we forget the wine altogether only to discover the broken bottle, popped cork and frozen ice wine a few days later. Ugh as well!
Fortunately there are far better, lower risk solutions easily to hand. For this is where the ubiquitous ice bucket really comes into its own. Quick, cost effective and stylish, designer ice buckets are the ideal answer for a speedy chill. Something the restaurant trade knows only too well. Nowadays they come in all sorts of shapes colours and stylish sizes so they look smart, even surreal. But why not use a household bucket I hear you cry! Another Ugh from me I’m afraid. Household plastics lack the essential thermo-dynamic qualities that are a sine quo nom for proper ice bucket design. In fact they just aren’t fit for purpose, and let’s face it decidedly de rigour if on impulse you invite the neighbours to join you on the patio.
Dedicated designer ice buckets are the business for both faster chilling in only 15 minutes, maintaining temperature stability and not to mention completing that cool co-ordinated Summer look that goes with the Ray Bans.
For best results, just fill your ice bucket about half full of ice and top up with cold water. This may feel like you’re defeating the object of the ice, but in reality you’re increasing the cold surface area on the bottle. Cooling wine in an ice bucket is also chilling through conduction. Every few minutes give the bottle a quick swirl around to even out any temperature fluctuations and give your drinking arm an anticipatory warm-up session.
Of course bottles in buckets do tend to drip, so not the best solution if table manners have to be considered, but that’s where double-walled wine coolers hold the edge. Neat and presentable, a wine cooler will maintain the chill as the vacuum created between the two walls means that conduction and convection are dampened down. Modern thermo plastics, aluminium and steel designs all employ this double-walled construction technique. But traditional single wall terra cotta coolers perform just as well, especially if soaked in cold water for 10 minutes first.
If you don’t have an ice bucket, or have forgotten to make ice there is another out-of-the-freezer answer – a wine gel chiller wrap. Leave your gel chiller wrap in the freezer and wrap around the bottle when needed. This conduction method of chilling soon gets your wine to the right temperature, keeps the bottle looking neat and avoids messing around with ice and water. You can even get some really clever wine wraps that can be popped in the microwave to heat up and used to warm red wines to room temp.
Finally, should you cool your wine down below optimum serving temp, don’t panic and definitely don’t put the bottle on the radiator, in the cooker or microwave! The solution to bringing wine back up to temperature without destroying those volatile esters lies in your hands…literally. If you find the wine is over chilled simply pour a generous quantity into your glass, cup your hands around the bowl, and using natural body heat, swirl the wine to slowly and safely bring the temperature back. If you sit back, close your eyes and savour the fragrances as they are released at the same time, you’re bound to ease away the tensions of the day.
This blog post was written for us by our friends at The Wine Gift Centre.
