Being able to chill a glass of wine quickly is the wine equivalent of building a better mousetrap. My partner doesn’t understand why this is important – thinking, ‘what kind of person is so desperate for a glass of wine they can’t wait 60 minutes!’ Answer – EVERYONE!
My usual go-to method has been whacking a bottle of wine in the freezer. Yes, this can be relatively quick, but it’s not as quick as our new method. Plus, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve frozen the forgotten wine because I was side-tracked by the gin and tonic I had while waiting!
Wait no more – because The Wine Wankers have invented the Tea Bag Method! [Yes, there is a serious wine group called this – go, Ed]
But before we explain, let’s look at man’s previous attempts to chill wine quickly
- Frozen Grape Method toss frozen grapes into your glass of wine to cool it down (Con – the grapes can add an unwanted flavour once they defrost in your wine)
- Ziploc Bag method placing half your bottle of wine into a zip-lock bag and submerged this into an ice bath for six minutes (Pro: brilliantly quick. Con: too much fussing around with ingredients and props)
- Ice + Salt + Water in Bucket Method submerge it in a bucket of salted ice water (Con – no one has that much ice in their freezer, plus it still takes 10 minutes)
- The Wet Towel and Freeze Method wrapping the bottle in a wet dish towel and popping it in the freezer – of course, you’ll have to detach the tea towel from the bottle!. (Con – the wet towel acts as an insulation device, so it takes longer than simply whacking it in the freezer)
- Add Ice Cubes To Your Wine Method (Con – waters down your wine – and no one wants that)
Introducing The Wine Wankers Tea Bag Method
Step 1 – fill your wine glass half full of ice so you only use the right amount of cubes
Step 2 – pour the ice cubes into a small plastic bag
Step 3 – fill your wine glass to the very top with room temperature wine
Step 4 – leave it for 3 minutes – giving it the occasional tea bag dunk to mix the wine
Step 5 – remove the bag, clean it and re-use it for another time (I hate single-use plastic – and so should you!)
Step 6 – your wine will now be chilled to perfection. Cheers!
Post by Drew, The Wine Wankers