Although the scorching summer is long gone, most parts of the country have entered the beginning of winter, and the north has even been snowing heavily, but when we attend a wine party or even invite three or two friends to taste wine, it may be necessary to chill the wine, especially White wine.
As a result, various ice-cooling methods emerge in an endless stream.
The popularity of refrigerators in our life today naturally makes putting wine in the refrigerator to be chilled as the preferred method for many people, but everyone knows that there are many disadvantages to putting wine in the refrigerator.
The closed environment and complex smells in the refrigerator will adversely affect the wine, and the frequent opening and closing of the refrigerator door in daily life will cause the temperature in the refrigerator to fluctuate, thus affecting the quality of the wine.
Fortunately, the use of ice buckets for wine cooling has become a widely recognized and professional way, but many wine lovers still fail to master the correct way to use ice buckets.
When using an ice bucket for chilling wine, people are always accustomed to thinking that they just need to add ice cubes to the bucket. Whether in restaurants or related banquets, wine is always placed in ice buckets filled with ice cubes, and people wait for the temperature of the wine to quietly change to taste its delicious and refreshing flavor.
While this practice is understandable, it doesn't really quickly chill the wine. When there are only ice cubes and wine in the ice bucket, the real contact area between the two is too small, so that the space between the two is filled with air, and the cooling effect is substantially unsatisfactory.
However, this method actually lacks the use of water compared to the correct way of using the ice bucket. The correct way of using the ice bucket requires adding a certain amount of water in addition to adding ice cubes to the ice bucket.
The principle is that ice melts faster in water, which causes the heat of the wine to be absorbed faster, thus cooling the wine quickly.
This method requires that when adding water and ice cubes in the ice bucket, the ratio between the two needs to be maintained at 1:1 and occupy 3/4 of the capacity of the ice bucket. (The reason for not filling is because if it is filled, the wine will overflow after being put in, thereby destroying the ratio of water and ice)
After adding water and ice cubes, put the wine in the middle of the ice bucket, and keep a layer of ice cubes about 2 cm thick at the bottom of the bucket to prevent the wine from directly touching the bottom of the bucket.
Then try to pile the ice cubes in the bucket closer to the wine, but not too densely. Ultimately just wait for the wine to cool down in the ice bucket.
On this basis, salt can also be used to increase the cooling speed.
I believe you must have seen people sprinkle salt on road snow in winter, mainly because salt can lower the freezing point of water, which makes snow melt quickly, and this is also true for ice cubes. And the salt absorbs heat as it melts, again lowering the temperature of the ice water in the ice bucket.
When chilling wine, we can also add a certain amount of salt to the barrel, about a cup of salt can be added to a gallon of ice water.
In addition, you can also put a bowl of warm water, then add salt to stir to dissolve it, and then sprinkle this bowl of warm salt water into the ice water in the ice bucket, which can further enhance the cooling effect.
After mastering the correct use of the ice bucket, you also need to grasp the precise cooling time when freezing different wines.
Generally speaking, red wine should not be iced for too long because of its full body, usually only 3 to 5 minutes. While relatively light-bodied white wines take 6 to 10 minutes, sparkling wines can be chilled for a longer period of time, about 10 to 15 minutes.
It can be said that the above method may not be well known by the majority of wine lovers. After all, in various occasions, many people only realize the first layer of "adding ice cubes to the ice bucket" when using ice buckets.
However, it is never too late to master knowledge, the key is whether it can be mastered and applied correctly after learning. Dear wine friends, try to use the above method to chill the wine once, I believe it will bring you an unprecedented experience.