How to Chill Wine Quickly

Serving wine at the right temperature can make all the difference when it comes to how they taste. Wine that is served too warm or too cold can alter the flavor and hence ruin the experience.

First, find out what is the correct wine serving temperature for the variety of wine you are planning to open. Once you are armed with that information, be careful that you don't damage the wine which can easily happen by exposing it to very warm temperatures (sometimes done by those who are trying to compensate for a bottle of wine that is too cold). The best method to chilling a bottle of white wine is to do so slowly in a refrigerator, however if you are short on time, you might want to check out a few of these tips:

1. How to chill wine in six minutes: Simply place the wine bottle into an ice bucket and fill with ice, water and a handful of salt. The salt is important as it will help break down the ice, which will make the water colder, faster.

2. Keep an empty wine bottle or a decanter in the freezer. When needing a quick chill, transfer the wine that needs chilled into the frozen vessel. The wine will be ready to drink in about ten minutes.

3. Although there are plenty of naysayers who believe that putting a bottle of wine in the freezer will damage its integrity, those who are daring (and in need of quick results) might choose to do so. But don't leave it in any longer than 15 minutes. It will chill even faster if you wrap a wet paper towel or hand towel around it before placing it in the freezer.

4. Purchase an "ice jacket" (a gel-filled sleeve) that you keep in the freezer. Wrap it around the wine bottle for approximately ten minutes. A benefit to using this method is that you won't have to worry about forgetting how long you left it on ice or in the freezer.

5. Wet a hand towel, wrap it around the wine bottle and put it in the refrigerator to chill. This method will take a little longer, but you won't have to worry about damaging its integrity.

This post was contributed via Seed.com, AOL's new platform for freelance writers.