Serving temperatures
It may sound an odd comparison but I like my wine in much the same way that Goldilocks likes her porridge – not too hot, not too cold, but just right.
However, the received wisdom about serving wine is chilled for whites and roses and room temperature for reds. Unfortunately, though, this is somewhat misleading in today’s day and age.
Not least because most centrally heated rooms are actually much too warm for the purposes of serving red wine. Instead, I would advise you to serve your best reds at somewhere between 14-18C, which is distinctly cooler than most people’s thermostat settings. In which case, a bottle of your best red may actually need a short spell in the fridge prior to serving just to bring it down to the correct temperature.
Similarly, good white wine should probably be served at around 8-10C, which again is much warmer than most fridges. So unless you have a suitably cool cellar or a special wine fridge, the best advice is to chill the wine in the fridge first and then pull it out an hour or so before serving. That way, it should be at the perfect temperature at which to enjoy it. Otherwise, serving a good white wine at 57C, simply dulls the flavours and certainly subdues the volatile compounds which are so important in the wine’s aroma and bouquet.
Also an ice bucket always comes in handy to either chill a wine quickly or to keep it cool. The trick of the trade is to add water and ice to achieve the best and quickest effect.
Occasionally though, it’s no bad thing to break the rules about chilling some reds. So on a hot summer’s day, I often chill some reds for a bit of alfresco dining. Ideal candidates for a spell in the cooler or ice bucket are reds which don’t have too much tannin. So go for wines like Loire Valley reds, some Pinot Noirs and Beaujolais. On a hot summer’s day, there’s nothing like it! | |
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