Ruth Langsford's £30 wine accessory is the perfect gift for a perfectly chilled glass
And it enhances the flavours too
If there's one thing that can put a dampener on a nice glass of wine, it's a bottle that drips all over the table. Ice buckets are brilliant for keeping wine chilled, but the soggy labels, slippery bottles, and inevitable puddles are less than ideal.
Thankfully, Ruth Langsford has found a clever way around an ice bucket. Usually, we're looking for her seasonal design tips and tricks, but her latest Instagram post reveals something else. Following her admission that she "love{s} a gadget," she reveals a £30 discovery that chills wine from inside aerates the wine before pouring it into your glass.
It sounds like a handy addition to have for dinner parties and wine nights and Ruth has been putting it to the test. As she delivers her verdict, she also has some great advice for how to keep every last drop in your glass.
Performance: Freezes in about 10 minutes, chills wine to ideal temperature, and maintains the chill for up to 3 hours without watering down the drink
Design: Built from food-grade stainless steel with a built-in aerator and a drip-free pour spout
Compatibility: Fits all standard wine bottles
Maintenance: Dishwasher-safe and easy to rinse with warm water
Just watching Ruth use the wine cooling accessory is tempting. It's such a simple idea and a really easy gift to add to your pre-Christmas shopping list for hosting and for giving to your friends and family.
The way the wine cooler works is also really simple. Pop the cooling rod into the freezer until it's properly cold. Ruth shows hers and you can see the icy frost on the metal. Then, once your wine has been chilled in the fridge, pour yourself a glass before screwing the cooling stick into the bottle. This is an important step, as Ruth demonstrates. If you don't pour a glass, your wine will spill and you'll lose some precious drops. Once you've screwed the pouring attachment, on, you can get a smooth pout from the integrated spout.
Ruth does have one small caveat, explaining that "the pour, I should say, is quite slow, so you'll have to be patient." The slower flow is worth bearing in mind if you're serving guests, although the cooling rod is designed to keep the wine chilled whilst aerating it and deepening the flavours as you pour.
But once it's in place, the cooling stick stays in the bucket to help keep your wine chilled as you sip, without the need for a "drippy bucket", as Ruth puts it There's also a stopper to seal the bottle if you don't finish it all, which is a thoughtful touch for those who prefer to savour a glass or two over an evening.
We've tracked down the exact match for Ruth's wine cooler stick, alongside a few alternatives that can help you keep your bottle chilled without the drips.
A simple Amazon buy, this has hundreds of five star reviews. With two sticks, you can be cooling a white and a rose, or perhaps something sparkling too.
This solves the problem of keeping wine cool in a different way. The insulated container works for up to 6 hours and even fits some champagne bottles. Because it doesn't use ice, you don't get any dripping.
This clever system lets you take a little wine out of your bottle without worrying about it going off. It's a great way to open a bottle without actually opening one.
For £30, Ruth’s cooling stick is a clever little buy for anyone who loves a chilled glass of wine without the fuss of an ice bucket. The slower pour might require a little patience, but the promise of fewer drips on the table and wine that stays cool while you catch up with friends makes this a handy hosting gadget. Just remember Ruth’s golden rule: pour a glass first.
