Serving Wine at The Perfect Temperature
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The temperature at which a wine is served is all-important, so you should take the time to at least learn the basics. It’s commonly said that whites should be served chilled and red wines at room temperature, but you really need to know more than that.
Most domestic refrigerators keep their internal environment at about 4 degrees, and that is too cold for the majority of white wines. Champagne and dry white wines of a high quality are best served at a temperature of about 8 degrees and 11 degress , which is near to the temperature of a regular underground cellar. White wines should ideally be served from a cellar but, placing them in the fridge for about an hour will also do just fine. Cheaper sparkling wines, sweet white wines and inexpensive white wines are best a little colder, perhaps 4 degrees to 9 degrees, so two hours or so should reduce the wine down to a reasonable temperature.Like white wines, red wines also need to be chilled. The centrally heated houses of today are too warm for red wines to be served at ‘room temperature’. The ideal serving temperature for most fine red wines is maybe 14 degrees to 17 degrees, somewhat cooler than modern houses, though this was a normal temperature a century ago. Therefore, many reds, unless stored somewhere cool, will benefit from thirty minutes or so in the fridge.
When adjusting the temperature of wine, it’s important not to damage the wine. Placing it in a fridge is best, with another option being to place it in a bucket of ice and water. It will have the effect of bringing the wine down to 0 degrees, which is far too cold to really appreciate the wine, so you’ll need to remove the bottle before it gets this far.
The risk of damaging wine is more significant when trying too warm a bottle that is too cool. Warm the wine gently, preferably by planning ahead and bringing the wine from its cool storage area (whether it be a fridge or a cellar) several hours in advance. Some people are tempted to try and accelerate the process by placing the wine near radiators or other sources of heat; this will damage the wine.
If you’re uncertain about the serving temperature, it’s best to go for colder rather than warmer. A wine like that will soon warm up in the glass, probably releasing pleasant aromas as it does so.
