🍷 Wine bucket

A wine bucket is a bucket of ice and water that a bottle stands in, either to bring the wine down to serving temperature or to keep it there. In Wine Australia's teaching notes for tastings, it is the way white and sparkling wines are held until pouring.

The mix they suggest is half ice, half water. For sparkling wine it matters: the target is 8 to 10 °C, and a warmer bottle can stream out when opened or, in the worst case, burst. The guide tells hosts to keep a bucket handy so the rest of the bottle stays cold. White and sparkling should not be poured in advance, though red at 15 °C can be.

The Bordeaux wine council (CIVB) sees it slightly differently. At the table, it says, the bucket mostly maintains the temperature rather than lowering it. To cool wine, put it in the fridge several hours ahead. Do not drop ice cubes into the glass, because they dilute the wine. A chilling sleeve does both jobs, lowering and holding. In a hurry, CIVB's emergency trick is a bucket of ice water with plenty of salt, stirred for 3 minutes, and it advises against the freezer at the last minute.

For the numbers by wine type, see serving temperature. The bucket sits with the glass for white wine among the tools of serving.