Some Late Summer Sparkling Wine Hacks That May Come In Handy

Well it looks like the UK weather has settled down into a normal summer pattern at last which suits us perfectly here at Premier Estates Wine. A few beautiful warm days followed by a little rain is just right to keep the lawn green and the temperature ambient. Late summer is also a very popular time for entertaining guests in the garden, whether it’s your best friend or a whole bunch of them. An amazing bottle or three of our award winning Grand Rosé “Pink Prosecco” would certainly help to make a good party great and we thought it might be useful if we passed on a couple of tricks that some of our super resourceful customers have suggested to help you out if you find yourself in a bind with guests due to arrive at any moment, or just to enhance the party and help things go just a little bit more smoothly.

1. Make wine ice cubes so your drink is never watered down.

This is a very simple trick which makes perfect sense. The evenings are still warm and even if you pour the pink fizz whilst it’s cold, your guests may find that their wine creeps towards room temperature rather quickly. Ice will help to cool it down again but it also waters down the wine until the last sip is just water. If you make Grand Rosé ice cubes, however, your wine will never be watered down. Genius! You will need to put the filled ice cube tray in the freezer a couple of days in advance, though, as the wine will take longer to freeze than pure water. Also, the smaller the ice cubes, the better as you may need them to fit into a flute; it may be a good idea to acquire an ice crusher.

2. Chill Grand Rosé in 10 minutes flat using an ice bucket, cold water, ice and salt

This is a great trick when you need to cool down a few bottles of wine, you’re pushed for time and there’s no room in the freezer.  Fill your bucket half full with water and add in a good few heaped tablespoons of salt. Stir in the salt and add the ice to fill it up to three quarters full. Pop in your bottles of Grand Rosé and they’ll be chilled in no time at all. The salt helps to reduce the freezing point of the water; simple chemistry!

3. Put the fizz back into an open bottle of Grand Rosé, with a raisin.

You may encounter a situation where a bottle of pink fizz has been opened and a couple of glasses poured, but then the bottle is left on the side or in the fridge for a while and it loses some of its fresh fizz. There’s a simple solution but you’ll need to be fairly quick with this one. Pop a few raisins into the bottle and they’ll encourage the carbon dioxide in the wine to be released, freshening up your fizz. It won’t last long, though, so serve it quickly after dropping in the raisins.

4. Make wine last longer by storing it sideways in your refrigerator.

When the party is over and your guests have gone home there may be an opened bottle of Grand Rosé which was opened to fill a single glass. It’s time for bed and you don’t really feel like polishing off the rest, so pop a good rubber wine bottle sealer into the top and store the bottle on its side in the fridge. Storing the bottle horizontally helps prevent premature oxidation and keeps your wine fizzy and fresh for a couple of days.

We're sure you may find these useful, particularly if you have friends or family to entertain in the garden. Go on, make the most of the last week before the holidays are over and everything returns to normal in September.