Hey, you. Don't let your crisp glass of wine get warm while you have fun in the summer sun. That glass of wine is way too precious to get cooked by the rays of sunshine! There is no bigger buzz kill than (gasp) warm wine and I am always looking for new ways to enjoy a nice glass while I spend some time outside. As the Arizona summer heat rages on, I am pretty impressed with a little life hack I discovered that keeps me and my wine chilled in the summer heat. Use this simple trick to keep your wine glass chilled while at the pool, hosting an outside dinner party, or at a fun cocktail hour.
The Easiest Way to Keep Your Wine Glass Chilled
The trick: frozen fruit! Freeze grapes, blueberries, and strawberries, then pop them into the glass to keep your wine nice and chilly! Yes, it's that easy. Frozen fruit works just like an ice cube but won't dilute your precious wine. Genius! This wine trick is super easy, looks gorgeous in the glass, and keeps your wine chilled. I'm saying it now, this might be the best wine hack ever!
For this frozen fruit drink hack, you will want to prep everything at minimum the night before, but preferably a few days ahead. When picking your grapes, choose varying colors and sizes (the tiny grapes in my photos are champagne grapes!). You can also toss blueberries and strawberries into the frozen fruit mix. They are super fun and are a good match or color contrast for all types of wine. When selecting strawberries to freeze, pick the smallest strawberries from the basket to keep your wine glass looking elegant and decorative - no elephant sized strawberries here!
Wash the fruit throughly, then separate the stemmed grapes into small bunches or take the grapes completely off the stem. For my wine glasses, I like to mix it up, removing some from the vine and keep others on - it's totally your choice. After washing, sorting, and prepping the fruit, lay all the fruit flat (grapes on the vine are ok to not laying flat) on a freezer-safe tray or baking sheet and let them freeze completely. Make sure the fruit is not laying on top of each other, they might become a big frozen fruit blob! When the fruit is fully frozen and ready to be served, place them all together onto a serving tray that is kept in the freezer, only brining the tray out momentarily when it's ready to be used.
The only caution I have with this wine chilling technique is that you don't want to turn your wine into a sangria. Using enclosed and thick skinned fruit, like grapes and blueberries, ensures their flavor won't seep into your wine. The last thing you want is to open a nice bottle of white wine that all of a sudden starts to taste like a fruit salad in your glass! Frozen strawberries are borderline and could impart some flavor into your drink but strawberries are a classic garnish with champagne and are ok to include in your frozen fruit spread. Plus, they are so cute! Other fruit like pomegranate seeds and raspberries add too much flavor to your wine, while cherries have a hard center pit that could be difficult to eat when you get to the bottom of your glass (especially if you have had a few glasses of wine!). I tried freezing a few different fruit varieties but the grapes, blueberries, and strawberries are my frozen fruit winners!
Now, you have the perfect summer wine hack to keep your wine glass chilled for your next outdoor party or for lounging at the pool. This little wine chilling trick is so cute, it's hard to see summer without it. Who's got their wine glass ready, I'll toss you some frozen champagne grapes! Stay cool out there.
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