What temperature should I serve my wine at?
If you break out the ice bucket at the slightest bottle of white and the reds never leave your kitchen, here's a simple guide to avoiding these wine temperature faux-pas.
White, effervescent: cool but not chilled
White equals fridge. Even so, serving any bottle straight out of a confined space at 5 degrees isn't the best idea. Cold freezes wine and anesthetizes its aromas. It may be sufficient to pour a few minutes before tasting. In the glass, the wine quickly gains between 2 and 4 degrees. Cold but not icy, therefore, around 8 to 10 degrees.
For complex, dense, deep whites, with texture or subtle aromas (long-aged wines, for example), you'll miss out on these qualities if you go cold.suitable temperature: 12 degrees (no clear condensation on the glass). Take the bottle out in advance, from a few minutes to half an hour depending on the season, or even pour it into a carafe to warm the wine in the glassware.
The same applies to sparkling wines and champagnes. If it's an old vintage or a grand cuvée, serve chilled but not cold.
Too warm? The wine becomes mushy, and the alcohol and fat stand out. To identify the effect, taste that glass of white left on the table at the end of the meal...
Red, rosé, orange: according to tannic intensity
Why group these three categories together? For their tannins. The cold accentuates their perception and they can appear hard. As for sipping rosés, which are almost tannin-free, they should be served like light whites.
Other types of rosé require a higher serving temperature. Those with a higher tannin content, for example, are more structured. 12°C seems a good benchmark to prevent the mouth from tensing up, and the same goes for light reds and maceration wines (known as vins oranges).
As for reds in general, they deserve better treatment than a room at room temperature (a torment of nearly 20 degrees). A red served too hot gives a sensation of sluggishness, heaviness and jammy aromas. Before the meal, some time in the fridge or cellar is a good option, as with ripe fruit whose flesh you want to keep taut. As for the whites, take the bottles out in advance. Aim for 14 degrees for the smoothest, and up to 18 degrees for the most intense. The bottle is then slightly cooler than the hand.
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