🍷 Wine bucket

A wine bucket is a small bucket of ice and water. A bottle is placed in it to chill the wine quickly before serving.

Ice with water chills a bottle faster than ice without water: the water touches the whole surface of the glass. A few minutes is usually enough to chill the wine. Cold matters because serving temperature affects taste. White wines are customarily drunk cool, around 8-12 °C, and sparkling ones colder still, around 6-8 °C. Reds are chilled only slightly, to a cool room temperature.

The bucket is made of metal, glass or plastic. At a festive table it is sometimes placed near the guests so the wine stays cold all evening. The bottle can be left in the bucket, then lifted out and wiped dry. A wine bucket is a simple object, but it helps the wine show itself well. In shape and size it resembles an ordinary bucket, only smaller.