Best wine bottle coolers

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 10 wine bottle coolers from popular brands such as John Lewis, 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 3 August 2021.

The best wine bottle coolers

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. 

BarCraft Wrap Around Silver Wine Cooler

Cheapest price: £7.95, available at Harts of Stur, also available at Amazon, The Crock

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.

Bramble Cooler Sleeves

Cheapest price: £12.69 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. 

CaddyO Bottle Chiller 

Cheapest price: £29.77, available at Amazon, also available at Cellardine, Wineware

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?.

ChillCore 3-in-1 Wine Bottle Chiller

Cheapest price: £21.35, 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?.

Mixology Dual Wrap Wine Bottle Cooler/Warmer

Cheapest price: £10.99, available at John Lewis and Lakeland, also available at The Real Wood Wine Racks

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.

Le Creuset Wine Accessories Cooler Sleeve

Cheapest price: £21, available at Amazon, also available at John Lewis, Le Creuset

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. 

Vacu Vin Active Wine Cooler

Cheapest price: £14.99, available at Nisbets, also available at Amazon, Catering Appliances, 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. 

Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Wine Bottle Cooler

Cheapest price: £7.49, available at Ocado, also available at Amazon, Lakeland, Wineware

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?

Vin Bouquet Cooler Bag With Gel

Cheapest price: £5.21, 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.

How we tested

We chose 10 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. 

What’s the best home remedy for chilling wine? 

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.   

What's the ideal serving temperature for wine?

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. 

White wine

• Sparkling wine champagne, cava, prosecco: 6-10 °C
• Light-bodied pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc: 7-10°C
• Full-bodied chardonnay, viognier: 10-13°C

Rosé is typically served at the same temperature as white wine. 

Read our expert reviews of the best champagne.

Red wine

• Light, fruity pinot noir, gamay: 12-14°C
• Medium-bodied tempranillo: 12-16°C
• Full-bodied cabernet sauvignon, merlot, shiraz: 16-18°C

Read our guide to the best red wine for tips, tricks and wine recommendations.

Three things we learned from testing

• The best wine bottle coolers will cool your pre-chilled wine below its starting temperature initially. The most efficient coolers in our insulation test had further cooled their bottles from their starting temperatures of around 7°C to around 5°C in only 10 minutes. The worst coolers only increased the temperature of the wine over the course of the day, as you can see from the graph above.
• We found that the temperatures didn’t drop in the chilling test until we pushed the thermocouples further into the bottle.
• Unless you have a full-body cooler you’re unlikely to get consistent cooling across the whole body of wine. 
• We found the ChillCore to be less effective at chilling and cooling than the wrap-style coolers in our testing.

Log in or join Which? to find out what our scientists thought about the Chill Core.