Chillin' Wine 101

Chillin' Wine 101... (Quick Tip)

What really is the best way to chill a bottle of wine or champagne (or even beer!)? I have noticed many people do it incorrectly and then get frustrated because their wine did not chill quickly enough. So when those friends drop by and you want to quickly chill a bottle, what is the best way? When you have that romantic evening, and you want to chill a bottle of Almond Champagne, like RIGHT NOW, what is the best way to do it? You are on a boat and you have a warm case of beer and ice, and you want a cool one RIGHT NOW. What do you do?

Fortunately, much of the painstaking research has already been done for us, and the results are surprising. One of my favorite shows is Mythbusters (Discovery Channel. Episode 29: Cooling a Six-Pack where they used use ice, water, refrigerators, freezers and fire extinguishers to test the fastest way to cool a six-pack). I am kind of a science fan, and I love to see someone test a theory or myth. On one of the episodes, they were testing the quickest way to chill a can of beer. They tried ice, dry ice, ice and water, etc. The tests were thorough and a lot of fun to watch on TV. So we decided to try our own tests on a bottle of Almond Champagne.

Champagne on ice

Champagne in ice

Champagne in ice and water

Champagne chilled by a massive blast of CO2

What do you think is the best method? What is the most widely used method?
The most common one is #1. Most people chill a bottle by putting it on ice and then trying to push it down into the ice, i.e. starting with method #1 and forcing it to #2. Pretty difficult isn't it? That bottle just does not want to go down into the ice, unless you have a large cooler of ice. If you do force that bottle into the ice, why does it seem to take forever to chill? Well, the more surface area of a bottle that is touched by cold the better. Ice only touches the bottle at certain points. Try this tip: add one part water to two parts ice. Now the bottle slides into the ice beautifully, and the bottle chills MUCH more quickly. Even at a restaurant, when you order a bottle and you want it iced, ask for some water in the ice (most high end restaurants probably will do it anyway, but why not make sure). If they forget, just add a few glasses of table water to the ice bucket. Nah, it's not tacky; you can do it discreetly.

So what actually is the best method?
I was surprised at the results, and our home test confirmed the results. But, do not try this at home! Mythbusters already proved that method #4 is the best, and we did it just for the fun of it. Carbondioxide (CO2) is very cold when coming out of a fire extinguisher. Moral of the story: add water to your ice, and avoid fire extinguishers; they're messy!

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