When summer comes around we wine lovers, more specifically we Fino lovers, have to figure out ways of chilling our bottle of wine, keeping it cool and winning the battle against high temperatures so that we actually enjoy drinking it. We have 5 tips for you that will chill your Fino and keep it cool.
“On the beach”
You decide on a Sunday or holiday to go to the beach, down to the river or out to the country and realise you have nothing to chill your wine in. This is the first tip for keeping it as cool as possible: look for a patch of damp soil and bury your bottle as deep as you can – the damper the soil the better.
“Home with friends”
You have invited some friends over at the last minute: send one of them a WhatsApp message to ask them to buy some ice at a petrol station on the way. As you can see in the photo, this is a novel way to chill your Tio Pepe down in just a few minutes, ready to serve.
“Professional”
You will look like a professional sommelier if you use this method with your friends. Put the bottle in a champagne bucket or similar and cover it with small chunks of ice, add half a kilo of coarse salt and sprinkle with a little water – if you add too much water the ice will melt very quickly. This will create a block of ice. After ten minutes the bottle will have chilled down to about 5o. For anoraks who want to know how the chemical process works, it is an endothermal reaction.
“Sybarite”
For those of you who would never put ice into your Tío Pepe we have the sybaritic option: make your own ice cubes out of Tío Pepe to pop into your glass of fino. Guaranteed success at any wine gathering. 
“Total cool”
This is the one for you if you are a wine fashionista: freeze individual grapes to use as ice cubes. The best to use obviously would be palomino grapes but if you can’t get them, use any white grape. You need to peel them before you freeze them and they freeze perfectly. Ideally, have the wine well chilled and add the frozen grapes as an extra part of the drinking experience, then eat them after you have drunk the wine. Remember: in summer Tío Pepe is enjoyed best at about five degrees – basically very well chilled. What about you…what is your take on it? Give us your ideas in ‘Comments’!
