CDA
FWC304BL
Test score
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There’s nothing worse than a warm bottle of white wine on a hot summer's day. Wine bottle coolers are designed to chill wine and keep pre-chilled wine cooler for longer – or so they claim.
In April 2021, we tested nine wine bottle coolers from popular brands such as Le Creuset and Vacu Vin to see how effective they are at keeping wine cold. We also tested out one ChillCore product (that you insert into the bottle) to see how it compared.
Prices and availability last checked as of 4 April 2022.
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Only logged-in Which? members can view the wine bottle cooler results test results below. If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the wine bottle coolers we tested.
Cheapest price: £8, available at Amazon
Weight: 320g
Bottle compatibility: All types including champagne magnums
Recommended freezing time: 'Until frozen'
Key features: 18cm x 43cm (H X W), 12-month guarantee
This wine bottle cooler claims to keep pre-chilled wine cool for two hours and chill warm wine in five minutes.
We put it to the test. To see our results log in or join Which? now.
Cheapest price: £11.19 for 2, available at Amazon
Weight: 350g (per sleeve)
Bottle compatibility: All types and sizes
Recommended freezing time: 'A couple of hours'
Key features: 43cm x 14cm (H X W)
This wine cooler sleeve pack from Bramble comes with two wine bottle coolers. The sleeve design gives you form-fitting insulation for any bottle you want to cool.
Want to know how the Bramble coolers compare with the bigger brands in our line-up?
Log in or join Which? to find out.
Cheapest price: £39.99, available at Wineware, also available at Amazon
Weight: 535g
Bottle compatibility: All 750ml and 1-litre bottles
Recommended freezing time: Minimum four hours
Key features: 38cm x 13cm (H X Diameter)
This is the only wine bottle cooler we tested that comes with a case as well as a cooler. The adjustable strap makes it perfect for drinks on the go.
But did the case make any difference to the CaddyO’s insulation?
To unlock our results log in or join Which?.
Cheapest price: £19.88, available at Amazon
Weight: 160g
Bottle compatibility: All types and sizes
Recommended freezing time: Minimum four hours
Key features: 33cm x 2.3cm (H X D)
We included this ChillCore product to see how it compared with the other wraparound style coolers we tested. It’s the only chilling device in our line-up that you insert into the bottle.
To see how it fared in our testing, log in or join Which?.
Cheapest price: £11.99, available at Lakeland, Amazon
Weight: 510g
Bottle compatibility: All types and sizes
Recommended freezing time: Minimum 2 hours
Key features: 22cm x 14cm (H X W), 3 year guarantee (if purchased from Lakeland)
The Mixology Dual Wrap cooler claims to chill wine as well as warm red wine to the correct serving temperature. If you’ve left some bottles of red in the garage and you need to warm them up, this could be the cooler for you.
Find out which of these functions it performs best. Log in or join Which? today.
Cheapest price: £18, available at Le Creuset. Also available at Amazon, John Lewis
Weight: 540g
Bottle compatibility: All shapes of 75cl bottles
Recommended freezing time: Any standard bottle
Key features: 23.5cm x 15.5cm x 3cm (H X W X D), five-year guarantee
Le Creuset is a well-respected kitchenware brand with a big following of foodies, but has it done itself proud with this wine cooler sleeve?
Log in or join Which? to find out how Le Creuset fared against the lesser-known brands.
Cheapest price: £14.95, available at Amazon, also available at Lakeland
Weight: 575g
Bottle Compatibility: Standard wine bottles, not including champagne
Recommended freezing time: Minimum six hours
Key features: 20cm x 15cm (H X Diameter), three-year guarantee if purchased from Lakeland
The Vacu Vin Active Cooler requires you to put the inner cooling wrap into the freezer before use. When you need to use it you have to insert it back inside the rigid outer shell.
It claims to chill warm bottles of wine in 15 minutes, but did our results show this?
Log in or join Which? to unlock our results.
Cheapest price: £10.79, available at Wineware, also available at Lakeland
Weight: 249g
Bottle compatibility: Standard wine bottles, not including champagne
Recommended freezing time: Minimum six hours
Key features: 14cm x 17.5cm x 3cm (H X W X Diameter), three-year guarantee if purchased from Lakeland
Another wine bottle cooler design that wraps around the bottle, except this one doesn’t have velcro strips. Instead, you have to push the cooler onto the bottle. We wanted to compare its performance with the Vacu Vin Active Cooler.
To see whether we found any differences log in or join Which?
Cheapest price: £6.79, available at Amazon
Weight: 314g
Bottle compatibility: All types and sizes
Recommended freezing time: Doesn’t specify
Key features: 20cmx 14.5cm x 2.5 cm (H X W X D)
We were surprised at the bold claims put forward by the cheapest wine bottle cooler we tested. It claims to chill wine to serving temperature in just five minutes – but did our results confirm this?
Log in or join Which? To find out.
We chose nine popular wine bottle coolers that claimed to both chill wine from room temperature and keep pre-chilled wine cooler for longer.
We picked a sauvignon blanc to put in the wine coolers because it’s light-bodied, so in regards to serving temperatures it sits right in the middle of other white wines, with a serving temperature range of 7-10°C.
Chilling test
Each bottle was left unchilled overnight. The next morning thermocouples (a device for measuring temperature) were placed into the bottles and the bottles were placed into the wine bottle coolers. We wanted to see which would reach 10°C first and how long they stayed within the 7-10°C range.
Insulation test
To see which cooler cooled our bottles the best for the longest we attached thermocouples to each pre-chilled bottle of wine and placed them into the coolers. We took temperature readings on the hour every hour across the day.
Your fridge is full of food and you've got wine to chill. What do you do? We'd recommend salt (100g), ice (1kg) and water in a bucket. While it might be unsuitable to lug to the park for a picnic, as a quick fix at home, it's an excellent solution.
In our tests, we found that the ice bucket chilled the wine to serving temperature in only 24 minutes. And in the insulation test, it increased the temperature of the wine by only 2.6°C across the course of the day.
However, if you like your sauvignon blanc served at the correct temperature then you might be a little disappointed. The bucket kept it so cold that it didn’t reach 7°C until the afternoon.
Unfortunately, there’s no one temperature fits all rule for different types of white and red wine – it all depends on the body of the wine.
Rosé is typically served at the same temperature as white wine.
Read our expert reviews of the best champagne.
Read our guide to the best red wine for tips, tricks and wine recommendations.
Log in or join Which? to find out what our scientists thought about the Chill Core.