Red Wine Should Never be Chilled?

If you find yourself refusing red wine, it may be because people keep serving it to you too warm! That’s right. It is a consistent myth that red wine should never be chilled. Most people think white wine should be chilled and red wine should be served at room temperature. This is generally too warm. Read on to find out the cause of this wine myth and how you can better enjoy your red wine. 

Room Temperature Is Too Warm For Red Wine

Room temperature, depending on where you live, is usually much too warm for red wine. Assuming that on average room temperature can be defined as 70 to 74% F and you always drink red wine at this temperature, then you are not tasting the red wine the way it is meant to be tasted.

It may be that room temperature for you is even warmer. So, if you tend to shy away from red wine, you may have discovered why. You’ve been drinking it at a temperature, in wine terms, that is downright hot.

Importance of Proper Temperature Of Wine

Temperature is vitally important to wine when consumed. If a wine is too cold, agreeable flavors can be masked. For instance, sweetness is dulled by very cold temperatures. This is why ice cream mixes are made sweeter than they are intended to taste once the ice cream is frozen.

Cooler temperatures also make us more sensitive to tannins and bitter flavors. On the other hand, warm temperatures can enhance the taste of the alcohol, resulting in a “hot” tasting wine.

This is not to say that a wine should have no alcohol flavor, but only that if this flavor is pushed forward by a warm temperature, the wine will be too harsh and out of balance, tasting otherwise flat.

The Myth of Room Temperature

Despite all this, the myth of warm red wine is helped along by restaurants that often serve red wines too warm, while overchilling whites.

This myth of room-temperature red wine is probably due to ambient room temperatures being quite a bit cooler in the past, but also, red wines were often stored in wine cellars that were cold enough for the wine to be at a proper serving temperature. If the “room” is a wine cellar, then room temperature is probably perfect.

If you live in a drafty old castle somewhere in England, likewise. But, if the room is your kitchen in the middle of summer with the air conditioner turned off, then the wine is not going to taste very good.

Put Your Red Wine in the Fridge!

For your next bottle of red wine, give it a little time in the refrigerator before drinking it. Start with around 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how warm the room is to start. As a general rule, the bottle should be slightly cool to the touch. You’ll be glad you took the time.

You can use the temperature ranges below as a general guide to serving temperatures for wines, but keep in mind that particular wines may have more specific temperature ranges. If in doubt, keep the wine in the fridge for longer.

You can always over-chill a wine, see how it tastes, and allow it to warm up. This may be a good practice in general if you know a bottle is going to sit out as it’s being enjoyed.

Proper Wine-Serving Temperatures (general ranges)

• Red Wine (general): 59° to 65° F (15° to 18° C)
• Light and Fruity Red wine (Beaujolais, some Pinot Noirs):  56° to 58° F
• Rosé and Blush: 50° to 55° F (10° to 12.8° C)
• White Wine: 47° to 59° F (10° to 15°  C)
• Sparkling Wine 45° F (7° C)

If these ranges seem too large, you have to remember that different wines will have a different balance of bitter, sweet, and even sour flavors. A slightly different temperature may be needed to fully enjoy each.

If you chill a white or red to one of the minimum temperatures above and find it still too harsh, you can chill it a bit more.

As you can see, sparkling wines like champagne should be served the coldest. Not only does this bring out the best flavor but when they are served too warm they may foam up when opened. If you’ve had trouble with corks shooting across the room, this may be part of the problem.

Refrigerator temperature is fine, then, for a sparkling wine. Just keep a bottle in the fridge until you’re ready to drink it.

For more specific temperature recommendations see Wine for Dummies. (affiliate link)

How Can I Tell the Temperature of My Wine?

It is possible to purchase wine bottle thermometers. These are thermometers that wrap around the bottle and measure the surface temperature.

Be wary of very cheap units that cost around 5 dollars.  Most of these types of products tend to be low quality and inaccurate.  The Wine Bottle Digital Thermometer with LCD, Instant Read (affiliate link) is a better-quality choice.

You can also measure the temperature of a wine bottle with an Infrared Laser Thermometer.

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