If you have ever wondered just how cold wine should be when you serve it at your table, here is some good news for you. In Your Guide to Chilling Wine, Wine Enthusiast has provided its readers with the ultimate cheat sheet for making sure your bottles are at exactly the right temperature.
Advice from an Expert
Wine Enthusiast extensively quotes Fred Dexheimer, one of only 140 Master Sommeliers in North America. Dexheimer is a respected wine taster, commentator, and panelist for The New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, Food and Wine, Wine and Spirits, Beverage Media, Sommelier Journal, and Wine Spectator. His critiques and articles have been featured in many publications, including Time, Cosmopolitan, Newsweek, Men’s Vogue, and People.
Red Wine
According to Dexheimer, red wines are to be served a little colder than room temperature. “I’m a firm believer red wines served 5 degrees under room temperature—like between 65 and 68 degrees—will taste a hell of a lot better…
This way, he says, “You get all of the vibrancy and freshness. When red wines are too warm, all you do is get alcohol, fruit and oak.”
What this Means: This statement demolishes the concept that red wines are to be served on the warm side. Unless you have a chilly dining area, this may mean keeping your bottle in the refrigerator for 40 minutes or in the freezer for six minutes before serving.
White Wines
The Master Sommelier suggests keeping white wine chilled but not extremely so. He recommends keeping Chablis and Muscadet, both high-aced wines, at 45˚F. Rhônes and Burgundies he prefers to keep at 50˚F. Referring to the expert, Wine Enthusiast refers says “Dexheimer warns that you run the risk of suppressing the aromas and flavors. If it’s too warm, he says you’re not going to get the acidity, the minerality and the tension of terroir.”
What this means: Prior to serving you can put your high acid whites in the refrigerator for 2.5 hours and your rich whites for two hours. You also have the option of keeping them in the freezer for 25 minutes (high acid) or 20 minutes (rich). Finally, they can spend ten minutes (high acid) or six minutes (rich) in a bucket of ice with water.
Sparkling Wines
Wine Enthusiast directly quotes Fred Dexheimer’s advice on chilling sparkling wines: “I think sparkling wines benefit from some temperature because of autolysis, which is when the yeast breaks down into the wine giving you the biscuity, nutty, brioche flavor. If it’s too cold you don’t get that…
“There’s a threshold where the temperature is just perfect. I like to take it out, put the wine on the table and let it warm up to 45 to 50 degrees.”
To get things right, your bottle should stay in the refrigerator for 2.5 hours, in the freezer for 20 to 25 minutes, and ten minutes in a bucket of ice with water.
Sweet Wines
Sweet wines are best served cold. Dexheimer says, “You want them cold because they have acidity, and you want the acidity to shine through the sugar.”
He serves Port at 62 or 63 degrees or 10 degrees below room temperare, believing that when this is served at a higher temperature, it will taste “too raisiny”.
What this means: Keep dessert wines in the fridge for 2.75 hours and fortified wines for 45 minutes. Dessert wines stay in the freezer for 30 minutes, fortifies wines foe seven minutes. In a bucket of ice with water, dessert wines stay for 11 minutes and fortified wines stay for 4 minutes.
Bending the Rules
Experts no longer stick to the cold-white-warm-red rule today. In Guide to Chilling Reds, Brooke Newberry of The Savory says, “Thanks to the courageousness of young sommeliers and new restaurateurs, we are seeing more offerings for cooled reds. While many reds surprisingly cool down just fine, there are some things to remember when choosing the right reds for chilling. Big, tannic reds served cold will just sharpen the juice’s tannins, making it astringent and unpleasant. Choose lighter reds: both fruity-bursty wines and earth-dry reds work well with a chill…”
Indeed, the rules have been bent, and this allows people to explore wines served at cooler and more flavorful temperatures.
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