Are You Drinking Your Wine at the Wrong Temperature?
White wine goes in the fridge. Red wine sits on the bench.
Simple, right?
Well… not quite.
The temperature of a wine can have a surprisingly big impact on how it smells and tastes. Serve a white too cold and you can mute much of what makes it interesting. Serve a red too warm and the alcohol can become more obvious while the wine feels heavier and less fresh.
And here in Australia, the old advice to serve red wine at “room temperature” can be particularly unhelpful.
So, are we drinking our wine at the wrong temperature?
Quite possibly.
What Temperature Actually Does to Wine
Temperature doesn’t physically add or remove flavours from a wine, but it changes how easily we perceive them.
When wine is very cold, aromas become less expressive. Fruit can seem subdued, sweetness is less noticeable and the wine can feel sharper and more refreshing.
As the wine warms, aromas become easier to detect and flavours tend to open up. Texture can feel broader and the wine may become more expressive.
But there’s a tipping point. Get a wine too warm and alcohol becomes more noticeable, freshness can disappear and the whole thing can start to feel a little heavy and flat.
The trick isn’t finding one perfect temperature for all wine. It’s finding the range that allows a particular style to show its best.
Your White Wine May Actually Be Too Cold
Most of us store white wine in the fridge, which makes perfect sense.
The problem is that a typical household fridge is often colder than the ideal serving temperature for many wines. Pour a good Chardonnay straight from a very cold fridge and you may be hiding some of its aroma, texture and complexity.
That doesn’t mean you need to start standing beside your wine with a thermometer.
For a fresh, crisp Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio or Riesling, nicely chilled generally works beautifully. But a fuller-bodied Chardonnay or other richer white can often benefit from being a little warmer.
If a white seems strangely quiet when you first pour it, give it some time in the glass. As the temperature rises, you may notice considerably more aroma and flavour emerging.
Sometimes the wine hasn’t changed at all.
You’ve simply allowed yourself to taste more of it.
And Then There's Ice...
We know. It’s 38°C, you’re sitting outside, the Sauvignon Blanc is warming faster than you’re drinking it and someone reaches for the ice tray.
Look, you do you.
We’re not going to send the wine police around.
But adding ice to wine doesn’t just make it colder. As the ice melts, it dilutes the wine, which means you’re also diluting the flavour, aroma, acidity and everything the winemaker worked rather hard to put in there.
Does that mean you should never put ice in wine? Of course not. If you’re sitting by the pool on a scorching afternoon and that’s how you enjoy it, carry on. Wine is supposed to be enjoyed, not obeyed.
But if you’re adding ice simply because the wine isn’t cold enough, there are better options. Chill it properly beforehand, pop it back in the fridge or ice bucket for a few minutes, or – dare we say it – choose wine in packaging that chills considerably faster than a glass bottle.
And if you’re regularly adding three ice cubes to your $40 Chardonnay?
We may quietly judge you.
Just a little.
And Your Red Might Be Too Warm
Then there’s the famous instruction to serve red wine at “room temperature”.
The problem is that this advice comes from a time and place where room temperature didn’t mean a Western Australian house on a 35°C afternoon.
Most reds are better served somewhat cooler than many Australians drink them.
A lighter red such as Pinot Noir can be particularly enjoyable with a slight chill. Medium-bodied reds can also benefit from being served a little cooler, while even bigger styles such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz don’t generally want to be warm.
When red wine gets too warm, the alcohol can become more prominent, the fruit can seem jammy and the wine may lose some of its freshness and definition.
So yes, putting a red wine in the fridge can be a very good idea.
If it’s been sitting in a warm room, 20 or 30 minutes in the fridge before you open it can make a noticeable difference.
Sparkling Wine Is Another Story
Sparkling wine is generally served colder, and there’s a practical reason as well as a sensory one.
Cold temperatures help carbon dioxide remain dissolved in the wine, helping the bubbles last longer. A warmer sparkling wine can foam more aggressively when opened and lose its fizz more quickly.
That refreshing chill is also part of what makes sparkling wine so appealing.
But even here, extremely cold isn’t necessarily better. A quality sparkling wine served almost icy cold can have its aromas and flavours muted just like any other wine.
So What Temperature Should Wine Actually Be?
You can find very precise serving-temperature charts telling you that one wine should be served at 9°C and another at 14°C.
They’re useful as a guide, but we don’t think enjoying wine should require laboratory equipment.
A simpler rule is:
Sparkling and crisp whites – well chilled.
Richer whites and Rosé – chilled, but not icy cold.
Lighter reds – cool.
Fuller reds – cool to slightly below normal room temperature.
And if you’re unsure, it’s generally better to start slightly too cold than too warm.
Why?
Because a cold wine will naturally warm in your glass. A wine that’s already too warm is considerably harder to cool down while you’re sitting at the table.
Unless, of course, you reach for those ice cubes.
And we’ve already discussed that.
Your Wine Doesn't Stay at One Temperature Anyway
The temperature at which you pour a wine isn’t necessarily the temperature at which you’ll finish it.
A chilled white sitting on an outdoor table in summer can warm remarkably quickly. A red poured into a large glass will also gradually move towards the temperature of the room around it.
That means a wine can taste noticeably different from your first sip to your last.
In fact, allowing a wine to slowly change temperature can be interesting. You may notice aromas and flavours appearing as it warms that you didn’t detect when you first poured it.
There’s no rule saying you have to drink it quickly just because it’s reached its supposedly “perfect” temperature.
Your Wine Doesn't Stay at One Temperature Anyway
This Is One Area Where the Pouch Has an Advantage
Temperature is also one of the practical reasons we like putting wine in a pouch.
Without a heavy glass bottle to cool down, Greenskin Wine chills considerably faster and is easy to keep cold in a fridge, esky or ice bucket. If you’re travelling, boating, camping or simply sitting outside on a hot afternoon, that can be rather handy.
It also means less temptation to reach for the ice tray.
But whether your wine comes from a pouch or a bottle, the principle is exactly the same.
Temperature matters.
You don’t need to obsess over exact degrees, buy a wine thermometer or turn drinking wine into a science experiment. Just pay attention to what happens as your wine warms or cools.
If your white seems muted, let it warm a little.
If your red seems heavy or overly alcoholic, try it slightly cooler.
You may be surprised by the difference.
Because sometimes when a wine isn’t tasting quite as good as you expected, there may be absolutely nothing wrong with the wine.
It might just need 20 minutes in the fridge.
Cheers!
Mike and Kim
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