Each wine included in Wineluck Club tastings indicates how long it should be chilled before tasting. As a host, it also can’t hurt to remind your guests before you gather so that they don’t forget to do this.

That said, there will (almost) always be someone who forgot to chill their wine, or just didn’t have time. It’s a good idea to keep a bucket full of water and ice ready for when this happens. You don’t need a fancy ice bucket to do this, but there are many options out there if you’d like to zhuzh things up. A good rule of thumb for ice bucket chilling is that it takes roughly 10 minutes for red wines to reach cellar temperature, and about 20 minutes for white or sparkling wines to fully chill.

Hot tip: if you don’t have an icemaker or just can’t be bothered, a quick trick for fast chilling is to wrap the bottle in a wet paper towel and stick it in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. Just don’t forget that it’s in there!