How to Chill Wine In A Hurry

Is there a quick way to chill wine? There's nothing more daunting than the last few minutes prior to your guest arrival. Running around the house making sure everything looks "perfect". The lighting, decor, mood, the food, and the sheer terror of ... OH MY GOSH, I FORGOT TO CHILL THE WINE! and your guests will be here in 20 minutes! No worries, here's how to chill your wine in a hurry!

Panic no more friends! The entertaining experts of AWG Private Chefs have absolutely got you covered! Here are some helpful hints on what you'll need to chill wine or bubbly to the perfect serving temperature in just twenty minutes or less!

Wine chilling vessels. Clear lexan ice bucket, tall stock pot, copper champagne bucket.

Step 1: Grab your favorite tall wine chilling vessel

To quickly chill wine, grab any tall bucket-looking item you may have laying around the house that will hold ice and water. Heck, even your trusty dusty favorite spaghetti pot can work in a pinch. Ideally, you want a vessel tall enough to chill the entire bottle of wine up to the neck.

Step 2: Place the wine in the bucket and add ice and water

Now that you've found that perfect wine chilling vessel. Grab your favorite bottle of wine or bubbly and place it in the center of the vessel. Fill the bucket up with ice halfway to the top. Fill the remainder of the vessel with cold tap water. Leave about an inch or two from the top of the vessel to prevent spilling.

Step 3: Add the secret weapon! SALT!

large ice bucket, filled with ice and a bottle of wine. Sprinkling salt over the ice to accelerate chilling.

You're already well on your way to that perfect way to chill wine however, the secret weapon that will make things happen even faster is salt. Ideally use rock salt, but if you don't happen to have rock salt laying around your kitchen, no worries! Use either kosher salt or even regular table salt as a last resort. Sprinkle 4-5 generous tablespoons of whatever type of salt you happen to have available on top of the ice & water mixture. Then bounce your bottle up and down a few times to mix the water into a brine solution. But why salt? science! Salt lowers the freezing temperature of the water, allowing for faster chilling power.

Step 4: Stir the bottle around every 5 minutes for 20 minutes

Now that you've got your bottle "chilling out" in the ice and salt solution, stop, breathe, check your hair and makeup... You've totally got this. When you're done checking on your hair & makeup, simply stir the bottle around in the salt solution every 5 minutes for 20 minutes. Don't forget to go light the candles!

Step 5: Pop that cork and enjoy!

Just as the doorbell rings, give yourself one final deep breath, and be prepared to be the host(ess) with the most(ess). Your wine is now perfectly chilled and ready to be served. Don't forget when you pull the bottle out of its salty plunge, that you wipe the bottle dry with a clean towel to avoid any saltwater drips into your glass. No one wants a salty flavored glass of Dom Perignon!

using a sous vide machine to chill wine.

Now that Sous Vide cooking is all the rage, we found one of our favorite non-cooking uses for our Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker chilling wine in a hurry!

In lieu of bouncing that bottle up and down every 5 minutes while running all over the house tending to your last-minute details... Simply clamp on your Sous Vide machine to your wine chilling vessel, dial up the desired serving temperature of your wine, click start, and walk away! Your sous vide circulator will utilize its digitally controlled technology to allow the water and ice mixture to circulate around your bottle ensuring the absolute perfect service temperature... every time!