Is It Ever OK To Put Ice In Your Wine?

If you've ever put ice in your wine at a bar or restaurant, or shared a photo of iced wine on Instagram, you'll know the kind of response you get from everyone who sees you: Looks of disgust, comments about being ignorant, and a whole load of patronizing mumbling and pointed stares. But is this the extreme reaction that a couple of ice cubes in your glass of wine really deserves?

Though we don't recommend that you fill a glass of your finest Bordeaux with rapidly melting ice cubes, we do believe that there is a time and a place where an ice cube in a glass of not too fancy white or rosé is totally acceptable. Obviously, ice should never be added to a bottle of high quality wine — that really would be a waste of your money, the wine makers' work, and a perfectly acceptable ice cube (which would have been just great in a glass of lemonade).

If it's crazy hot outside (and therefore inside too), and your bottle of fairly cheap wine is warming up faster than you're drinking it, then you are definitely allowed to drop in an ice cube. It will help cool the wine down and will simultaneously save you from overheating.

At any point in the summer when you've been given or have ordered a cheap glass of white or rosé, and you need to dilute that overly sweet flavor, then ice is your friend. Add several ice cubes and let them begin to water down your wine before you continue drinking. You could, of course, also turn your glass of wine into a spritzer by adding ice and sparkling water, which will help improve the taste, the heat, the flavor, and also the headache the next day.

So next time someone looks at you with a condescending stare when you're enjoying an affordable iced glass of rosé, or leaves nasty comments on your perfect photo of your icy wine, don't let their judgement make you think you're doing something wrong. Sometimes, ice in wine is an absolute necessity.