Cool Summer: 3 Ways to Chill Your Wine

The Corkcicle. Photo courtesy of Hewy Wine Chillers

On a recent sweltering day, a friend and I were enjoying a refreshingly cool and pungent Pinot Grigio. We had chilled the bottle back at home, but the wine was rapidly getting warmer out here in the countryside, even though we were sitting comfortably in the shade of an enormous oak tree.

We weren’t about to plop some ice cubes into our glasses — what we needed was a way to keep the wine cold without watering it down. Yes, it’s a first-world problem, but now that summer has officially arrived, it’s one that’s certain to grow into a first-world epidemic.

Fortunately, numerous inventions aim to avert such a catastrophe. Here are three of them.

Corkcicle

The Corkcicle ($25) is the epitome of truth in marketing. It’s a cork attached to the top of a plastic, gel-filled icicle. To prepare it for use, you just stick it in a freezer for about two to three hours. The tapered cork fits snugly into just about any 750ml wine bottle, and there’s a plastic knob on top to make it easier to insert and remove. The Corkcicle kept our bottle of Pinot Grigio at the perfect temperature for more than 45 minutes. Of course, its use is not limited to white wines — when we moved to a light red wine (Pinot Noir, if you must know), the Corkcicle kept it at a pleasingly palatable temperature instead of matching the outdoor temperature of 83°F. There’s no imparted smell or taste of plastic. That’s great, because wine is a petulant beverage — too warm, and its flavor hides behind the alcohol; too cold, and the true flavors are masked. The device will work with any wine, and while it will not fit completely in quart-size soda, beer, or juice bottles, it inserts far enough to keep them cool. Of course, once the Corkcicle loses its chill, refreezing it takes another two hours. So, like camera batteries, it’s probably best to have a backup, or else that next glass of Pinot Grigio will taste like more like warm pee and less like frutto della vite.

WIRED Cleverly designed, freezing gel-filled “icicle” fits in a wine bottle. Keeps wine at the right drinking temperature for about 45 minutes even on a hot summer day. Looks like real ice — sure to spark a conversation.

TIRED 45 minutes might not be a long enough — you have to either get a spare, or wait two hours for it to refreeze.

Chillball

While it sounds like the title of a James Bond adventure set at a yoga retreat, Chillballs‘ mission is more prosaic. This Aussie invention ($20 for six) keeps your drinks cold without watering them down as regular ice cubes would. Dubbed “intelligent ice,” Chillballs (like sibling product Chillrocks) are translucent plastic balls with a nontoxic freezing gel inside. They include removable fishhook-like handles of varying lengths which rest on the rim of the glass and allow for mess-free insertion and removal from your stemware. Packaged in a six-pack egg crate plastic box, Chillballs take a minimum of four hours to freeze, but we found they take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to thaw once inserted into a glass of wine. That time depends on the air temperature, the wine volume, and the temperature of the wine when the Chillballs are first submerged. We experienced no plastic taste or smell, allaying our assumptions that we would. The Chillball gotcha is that it was engineered specifically to maintain the optimal temperature of pre-chilled wine (or other beverage, for that matter). So it will help cool warm wine somewhat, but naturally, not as well. Once used, your balls need to be washed, preferably by hand, and dried with a synthetic cloth to prevent scratching. However, returning them to their molded, form-fitted, egg crate resting place is a Tetris-like challenge.

WIRED Scentless and taste-free. Keeps wine cool for up to an hour per glass. Six balls is enough for a slow slog through a couple of bottles on a hot day.

TIRED Long freezing process. You have to clean them carefully. Storage system is needlessly intricate.

Metrokane Rabbit Wine Chilling Carafe

The foot-tall Rabbit Wine Chilling Carafe ($50) holds an entire 750ml bottle of wine and keeps it chilled longer than any of the other chiller solutions we tried. It also proved to be the most versatile and convenient beverage chiller, since the crystal glass carafe can be used for virtually any liquid — from ice tea to martinis. Integral to the Rabbit’s masterful cooling process is its bullet-shaped, stainless steel ice chamber, which hangs from the carafe’s top and extends in the middle down to near the base. We stuck eight large ice cubes into the chamber, sealed it with its tight-fitting rubber gasket and then secured it to the glass with its external black rubber sleeve. Because the ice chamber is metal, rather than glass, the ice cubes last longer and maximize the chilling speed. Like other wine-chiller gadgets, the Rabbit works best with pre-chilled wine straight out of the fridge. But unlike the others, it also chills un-refrigerated wine to drinking temperature effectively — albeit more slowly. Metrokane boasts that the carafe keeps pre-chilled wine cool for 90 minutes or more while waiting to be served. And sure enough, our Pinot Grigio was chilled just right for 100 minutes. Because it uses ice, reloads are quick and easy, unlike chillers that need to be refrozen for renewed use. Clean-up was a simple soap and water rinse, although the Rabbit is dishwasher safe, too. I can’t wait to do the martini test next.

WIRED Elegantly designed crystal carafe uses an inner stainless steel ice chamber. Chills wine effectively for up to 100 minutes. Easy to reload with ice for continuous use.

TIRED Sealing gasket clamps tight to eliminate leakage, but takes some effort to remove. Initial insertion of ice chamber takes some fiddling.

Chillballs. Photo courtesy of Makemyday Products

Rabbit Wine Chilling Carafe. Photo courtesy of Metrokane.