The 30-Minute Trick That Can Help Make Even Cheap Wine Taste Delicious

There's a proper way to store wine, and it's complicated. Temperature, humidity, light, and even getting knocked around too much can impact the quality. But how many of us have a vibration-proof, environment-controlled wine cellar in the basement? Far more often, we pull our wine from a grocery bag, along with ingredients for dinner (here's what to buy at the wine shop for beginners). There's a way to make even cheap wine taste like a treat, though, and its way less work than renovating your pantry into a wine cellar. Zach Pace — a veteran sommelier, wine educator, and owner of Volta Wine + Market, in St. Petersburg, Florida — offered The Takeout a few tips, telling us to chill wine before serving for a better experience.

"If you're up against a deadline and need to chill a white or sparkling wine in a hurry, add salt to a bucket of ice and plunge the bottle in to the neck," Pace said. "If a bottle of red is too warm, then yes — definitely throw it in the fridge for 30 minutes. You can jump-start the cooling by putting it in the freezer for five to 10 minutes, then finish in the fridge, but don't forget it — if the wine freezes it will push the cork and frozen slushy wine out."

Chilled wine can lend a more pleasant drinking experience; even some of the best Aldi wines under $10 can benefit from cooler temperatures. It livens up dull or overly heavy flavors in reds and brings out the crisp, clean qualities in whites. A little time in the fridge or an ice bucket, and an average wine can develop a stronger, more nuanced flavor profile. If you opt for the ice bucket, here's another tip from Zach Pace: don't forget to add some salt. "Salt lowers the freezing point of the ice bath," he said. "Give it a gentle twirl occasionally to mix up the warm and cold parts."

Don't overdo it, though.. Overchilling wine can bring out acidity and mute flavors, creating a sharper, monotone profile. The aroma also dulls, meaning you won't get the full sensory experience. This especially goes for certain kinds of red wine. Pace explained, "Overchilling reds ... will harden tannins and make a red wine taste more bracing. It works best [with] sweet, jammy, high alcohol wines, like mass-market California reds."

An ice bucket will spruce up a bottle in a pinch, but Pace said a great wine must be stored properly — you can't shove an ill-treated bottle into some ice and expect the wine to taste expensive. "Wines stored at room temp or hotter will have a markedly shorter lifespan," Pace said. So, use the 30-minute wine trick to chill that bottle before opening, but perhaps don't store your wine on top of the fridge, and find somewhere cooler, instead.