By
Vic Poulos
How many times have you ordered a red wine in a restaurant and noticed that they are pulling the wine straight off the shelf and bringing it to your table? Unless the restaurant’s room temperature is 55 degrees, which I doubt, that wine has not been stored properly – and probably will not be a stellar bottle of red wine when you open it.
Even at home, you might be serving your red wine too warm or your white wines not chilled to the correct temperature to properly enjoy the wine!
Serving wine at the correct temperature can feel like an art, but science can guide you to the perfect temperature to enhance a wine’s aroma and taste. Too cold mutes a wine’s flavors. Too warm accentuates the alcohol and leads to an unbalanced wine.
Simply stated: too cold leads to one dimensional wines, while wine that is too warm simply kills the aroma and flavor.
First and foremost, don’t chill a wine with ice as it dilutes the wine. Plus, you immediately identify yourself as a non-wine drinker to those around you observing this sacrilege.
Here are some guides to proper wine temperature at serving, although a degree or two variance is a matter of preference:
Sparkling Wine, Prosecco, Champagne and sweet white wines: 40 to 45 degrees
Rose: 45 to 55 degrees
Light-Bodied Whites: 45 to 50 degrees
Dry Riesling: 47 degrees
Pinot Grigio: 48 degrees
Full-Bodied Whites: 50 to 55 degrees
Light-Bodied Reds: 55 to 60 degrees
Medium-Bodied Reds: 60 to 65 degrees
Full-Bodied Reds: 65 to 68 degrees
Tawney Port: 55 to 60 degrees
Other Port: 45 to 60 degrees
Dessert Wines: 45 degrees
While the above are proper serving temperatures, be sure to store all wines at 55 degrees if you are able.
Consistency is the key in wine storage.
If you are going out to a restaurant and looking for a good bottle of wine, ensure they have their wines stored in wine coolers. Off the shelf just won’t work in El Paso! If they bring you a bucket, ensure it is half ice and half water. Ice alone is less effective. Two minutes in a bucket will drop the temperature by about one degree. Off the shelf,15 minutes to cool a red and 25 minutes to cool a white in a bucket of ice water.
Find yourself at a hotel or even at home without a wine fridge.
A simple but effective way to manage the wines for the proper temperature at serving time is to put your red wines in the refrigerator 25 to 30 minutes before you want to serve them. Put your white wines in the refrigerator the night before, and remove them 25 to 30 minutes before you want to serve the wine. This should get you close to the proper wine temperatures if the refrigerator is up to standard temperature.
While discussing and deciding temperature, the question of decanting often comes up.
Reasons to decant:
1. To remove sediment that has accumulated in the bottle
2. To let a wine “open up” before serving
White wines typically do not need to be decanted for either of the above reasons.
To decant to remove sediment, simply pour the red wine slowly into the decanter being very careful to leave the sediment in the bottle itself. The idea is to leave the sediment behind and not let it pour into the decanter. You often see this done with the shoulder of the bottle over a candle to provide a light to show if any sediment is getting through. I find a flashlight works even better. (Typically, only older wines need decanting for sediment.)
On the other hand, often young but very tannic wines will need decanting as well to allow them to open up and fully disperse the aroma. Aerating by decanting is useful for many red wines. While there is no rule to say which red wines need this, Cabernets, Zinfandels, and Petite Syrah based wines are candidates for decanting. If you do decant the red wine for this purpose, I suggest you try the wine first, and if it seems “tight” or constricted, and very aromatic, an hour or two in a decanter will soften the wine. Decant, then give the wine a swirl or two to aerate it well.
A nice decanter makes the wine seem more expensive and adds a special touch to the table setting.
Many red wines simply need to be opened an hour or two before serving to allow for proper aeration. You will notice the same effect by tasting the wine in your glass and then trying it again an hour later. It opens and softens the wine. Wines NOT to decant are young or old Pinot Noir, older white wines and fragile wines on the verge of being too old.
When to decant is a question open for debate.
I suggest only an hour or two, but many wine experts will suggest longer for aged tannic red wines. Just remember that decanting will warm or speed the change in the temperature of the wine. A nice decanter helps in pouring a wine and be sure your decanter is one that allows the table to appreciate the wine’s color!
When it comes to wine, temperature definitely matters!! And don’t forget to store the unfinished wine in the fridge so they won’t spoil as rapidly.
Salud!
