“It’s something that we see guests actively asking for,” agrees Holly Willcocks, owner of Half Cut wine bar in Kentish Town, London.
“I think it’s definitely, slowly become something that people are really keen on.”
She adds that it is specifically younger drinkers asking for chilled reds. “It’s the [same] guests that were asking for an orange wine last year.”
As well as cropping up on bar menus, people are popping red wine in the fridge at home.
Searches for chilled red wine on Ocado have soared compared to last year and, in April, Aldi released a red wine with a label that changes colour once it’s properly chilled.
“This summer has seen a surge in the popularity of chilling red wine,” says Miles Beale, CEO of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.
“This is partly down to the heatwave and partly down to breaking down old school wine myths.”
Younger shoppers are driving demand for the drink, according to an Ocado survey, external in June, with 56% of Gen Z and young millennial respondents saying they’ve had a red wine chilled or served with ice during summer months.
