EVERYONE we know has questions about wine and the best person we know for answers is Anthony Giglio, aka The Wine Wise Guy, an Improvised Life contributor and of late, wine blogger for Details. Anthony is the guy who pioneered using wine-friendly frozen grapes to chill a glass of wine without diluting the flavor. We excerpted a key fast-chill method for a whole bottle, below. His weekly Details column answers such perplexing questions as Do Those Wine-Aerator Gadgets Really Work?
Isn’t It Wrong to Pair Red Wine With Fish?

How Long Does a Bottle of Wine Last in the Fridge?

Is Prosecco Really Just the Poor Man’s Champagne?

What is Corked Wine and Is it Okay to Cook with It?

Check out Anthony’s answers to these and many other questions here.

wine chilled with frozen grapes
Anthony Giglio

 

In the meantime, if you need to chill a bottle of wine FAST, here’s the way (and whys) according to Anthony. Start with the Proper Bath, then ramp it up to Superfast by adding salt:

PROPER BATH: Nothing works as well as a proper ice bath to power-chill any wine (or beer, for that matter). However, you need more than just ice to make this work; you need water, too. Fill an ice bucket up with ice, then halfway up with water, then drop bottles into the bath. If there’s room for more water, add it. For big parties pull out the big bucket…or even a garbage pail or bath tub, and do the same.

SUPERFAST BATH: If you’re trying to chill Champagne super-fast, or building an ice bath for a long party, salt is the secret weapon. Depending on the size of the bucket or tub, Add a cup of salt (I use Kosher) for every gallon of water. Make a slurry in the bowl first, whisking the salt with warm water to dilute it. Then dump the ice on top and add cold water quickly. What’s the difference between this and the proper bath above? When ice melts in water, it stays at 32°F until it melts away (and gets warmer). When ice meets salt, it melts so quickly at first it uses its own thermal energy to turn into water, but that water chills down much, much colder to, say, around 15°F.

 

wine cork corked Anthony Giglio

 

Editor’ Note: While looking for an image of what an ice-cube+water bath looks like (i.e. NOT just ice cubes), we came across a novel way to haul iced bottles to the beach or park: Clear Plastic Collapsible Ice Cooler Bag with Handles. wine cooler ice bag

 

…wonder what Anthony thinks of it…

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *