1. Immerse the bottle in an ice bucket with water, ice and a good handful of salt
This is undoubtedly the best option, and it will allow you to chill a white or rosé wine within 15 minutes. The salt helps to rapidly reduce the temperature of the water. Make sure the bottle is immersed up to the neck, in order to ensure an even temperature. If you’re fond of a glass of wine in the summer, then an ice bucket should rank among your favourite accessories. It’s an absolute must-have!
2. Wrap the bottle in a tea towel and put it in the freezer
If you don’t have any ice, this method is quite efficient. It consists of wrapping the bottle in a damp tea towel and placing it in the freezer for 10 minutes. If possible, remove all the other items from the freezer drawer, so that the bottle doesn’t have to share space with any food products.
3. Remove the wine from the bottle
Glass is a very poor conductor of heat, which is why it takes so long (between two and three hours) to chill a bottle of wine in the fridge. To speed up the process you can pour the wine into glasses, cover them with cling-film to prevent any odours from getting in, and place the glasses in the fridge. In just two minutes they’ll have reached an ideal temperature.
4. Place frozen objects inside the glass
One of the more bizarre recommendations doing the rounds on the Internet is to place frozen grapes or stainless-steel ice cubes into the glass in order to chill the wine. To be frank, this seems like a ridiculous idea, as the time required to freeze the grapes or cubes (between two and three hours) is the same amount of time needed to chill a bottle of wine in the fridge, not to mention how difficult it would be to enjoy a glass of wine filled with floating foreign bodies.
