The Wine Fact Center

The serving temperature of wine is the subject of this part of our wine 101 guide…

The temperature at which a wine is served is all-important, so it’s worth teaching yourself the basics. The common saying that red wines at room temperature and white wines chilled is a useful place to start, but that’s not entirely true.

Most home refrigerators maintain their internal environment at about 3 degrees, and that is too cold for the majority of white wines. Dry white wines and Champagne of quality should be served at a temperature of around 7 degrees and 11 degress , which is quite close to the temperature in many underground cellars for much of the year. Many white wines are best served straight from the cellar, but for the majority whose homes don’t possess such a feature, putting it in the fridge for an hour will do the job. Sweet white wines, inexpensive white wines and cheaper sparkling wines are best a bit colder, possibly 5 degrees to 8 degrees, so two hours or so should reduce the wine down to an ideal temperature.

As with white wines, red wines also need to be chilled. The ‘room temperature’ which many regard as the ideal serving temperature for red wines is not applicable in the warmth of today’s insulated, centrally heated houses. The optimal serving temperature for most fine red wines is perhaps 14 degrees to 18 degrees, somewhat cooler than modern houses, though this was a normal temperature a century ago. So, most red wines, unless stored somewhere cool, will benefit from thirty minutes or so in the fridge.

When correcting the temperature of wine, you need to be careful so as not to damage it. Gentle cooling in the fridge is best, with cooling in a bucket of water and ice also being a good option. Doing so will bring the wine down to 0 degrees, which is far too cold to fully appreciate the wine, so you’ll need to remove the bottle before it gets to that stage. The risk of damaging wine is more significant when trying too warm a bottle that is too cool. Warm the wine gently, ideally by planning ahead and bringing the wine from its cool storage area, be it wine cellar or fridge, 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; doing so will damage the wine.

If uncertain with regards the serving temperature, it’s best to err on the side of caution and serve the wine a little too cold. A wine like that will quickly warm up in the glass.