Although common sense tells us that the temperature at which we serve a drink will affect the impact on our taste buds, many people still insist on chilling white wine to just above freezing point. Domestic fridges operate at around 4ºC and at this point your average bottle of chardonnay will taste, well, simply “cold”.
Frosty Didn't Quite Understand the concept of Ice Wine.
Temperature will affect the way your taste buds react to acidity and tannins as well as serving as a means of suppressing the fruit characteristics of the wine (one of the ways to test this yourself is to take a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, refrigerate it overnight and then drink it over the course of a few hours allowing the bottle to move back up the temperature scale. Make a note of how the wine changes in taste and you’ll get the idea).
Ask the experts and they’ll tell you that white wine should be served at between 8ºC-10ºC and red wine between 14ºC- 18ºC. The problem with such advice is that if you don’t happen to have a thermometer in your kitchen (and I’m guessing that’s most of us?) then how do you know what temperature is what? Until we see a thermometric integration into our ever useful smart phones we’ll need to turn to the well worn rule of thumb.
A good starting point is always “serve white wine chilled and red wine at room temperature”. For a white, an hour in the fridge before opening should do the job. For a red, leave it on top of the fridge overnight or, if pressed, place the bottle in the fridge for half an hour before serving.
NEVER, be tempted to accelerate the temperature in either direction. If you put a cold bottle of red next to an intense heat source (such as a radiator or open fire) you run the risk of ending up with a bottle of stewed raspberries.
As ever, rules are meant to be broken and personal taste must always be a consideration (for example chilled Beaujolais can be the perfect summer drink). Where a wine label offers advice take it, and if in doubt obey that well worn “rule of thumb”.
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