Serving Temperature

“What is the best serving temperature for a wine and what is the best way to obtain it”, is one of the most frequent questions asked at any wine event. It’s also one of the most important - the smell and taste of any wine is radically altered according to the temperature it is served at, and this will either heighten drinking pleasure or potentially spoil it. Temperature is fundamental to our ability to enjoy wine. To paraphrase Goldilocks and the Three Bears,

‘First Goldilocks tasted the wine of the Big Bear, and that was too warm for her. Next she tasted the wine of the Middle-sized Bear, but that was way too cold for her. And then she tried the wine of the Little Bear and that was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right, and she liked it so well that she drank it all up, every drop’.

To understand how wine temperature affects taste it’s worth understanding something about the physics and physiology involved.

Physics - the higher a wine’s temperature the easier it is for the lighter and hence more volatile and aromatic molecules it contains to evaporate into the air. Below 8 °C evaporation is so low there is relatively little aroma, while at over 20 °C most flavour compounds will rapidly boil away and even the alcohol itself will start to evaporate. Every wine is made from a unique cocktail of chemicals and flavours. When some of these vaporise and become odourants they are able to communicate flavour messages when we inhale them through the nose and mouth.

Physiology – The human nose is highly sensitive to smell and constitutes most of our sense of flavour and aroma. In the roof of each nostril is a region called the nasal mucosa. This contains up to 10 million highly sensitive receptor cells, grouped into around a thousand different types, with each type sensitive only to a narrow range of odours. When we inhale, the odourants are dissolved in mucous and bind with the receptors. Messages are then sent to the olfactory bulb and these are in turn interpreted by various parts of the brain. We can combine odours into patterns, recognise them and memorise them. How this is done is still not fully understood, but we can discriminate between 4,000 and 10,000 different odours. The sensitivity of the human nose is the principle reason why a wine can display its own unique flavour signature.

The mouth and tongue also play a part. Taste-buds are important to distinguish sweetness, acidity, bitterness and saltiness and the mouth also conveys a sense of texture and warmth through touch. However their role in determining the range of subtle flavours that a wine can produce is relatively small. Taste is in fact 90% smell and smell is 10,000 times more sensitive than taste - with a blocked nose it’s tough to tell the difference in flavours between grated apple and grated onion!

Consequently, trying to serve a wine at its optimal temperature might at first seem a pretentious practice best left to those of us with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, but getting this right enables us to extract the maximum amount of aroma and hence flavour from the wine.

Obtaining the right serving temperature is based on simple principles that apply to any wine regardless of expense. You can maximise the enjoyment of a cheap wine or ruin an expensive one by getting it wrong. Even better, you don’t need to spend much money to do this, though some methods have pitfalls worth avoiding.

I’ve seen some guidance merely stating “serve at room temperature”. This is imprecise and of little value. In the past the Georgians and Victorians found it hard to regulate room temperature and houses were typically draughty and heated by big fireplaces. They were certainly cooler than today, where modern central heating and insulation gives a room temperature of around 23 °C, excessively warm for wine.

The temptation is always to serve whites too cold and reds too warm. Thankfully there are only three simple principles involved based on physics and physiology.

• The colder the wine the less it will smell, and vice-versa;

• Low temperatures bring out acidity and tannin while higher temperatures minimise them;

• It’s much easier to warm a wine up than chill a wine down – if in doubt, serve cool;

These principles have some very useful consequences:

The more naturally aromatic a wine, the cooler it can be served - a useful property on a warm day. Examples would be Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir.

Sparkling wines usually show better at low temperatures because cooling slows down the release of carbon dioxide bubbles, so reducing the tendency to froth and making the bubbles last longer. Champagne too cool when it sets my fillings on edge! I also prefer Vintage Champagne with only a light chill to do justice to the complexity of aromas and flavours that should be on offer.

Full-bodied or oaked whites have more natural extract, with bigger flavour molecules that are less volatile - so can be served warmer. Conversely if the wine is flabby it will taste better by chilling it to bring out the acidity.

Full bodied reds also have more extract and also tannins. Young or full-bodied reds are frequently bitter and tannic when served slightly cool. Hence these are generally much improved by serving them warmer. Nebbiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah/Shiraz and Malbec are all good examples. However, above 20 °C an increasing proportion of these compounds will be boiled off, so don’t take this too far; 18 °C is a useful upper limit.

Unless perfectly balanced between acidity and sweetness, most sweet wines will benefit from being chilled. This also applies to soft low-tannin dry reds from Beaujolais and the Loire and even some red Burgundy.

There are always exceptions. Tawny Port is delicious lightly chilled, as are the red Vin Doux Naturels of France such as Banyuls and Maury – it is better to balance their acidity and sweetness even though they are full-bodied.

And dull or poor wines? Use an old Sommelier’s trick - temperature is a great way to mask unpleasantness and increase acceptability, (at least up to a point – a faulty wine really will taste horrid whatever you do). For whites - chill them senseless. For reds – turn them into mulled wine by simmering in a pan with sugar and spices.

And wine tasting as opposed to wine drinking? Typically, a wine tasting is more about analysis and first impressions (as opposed to wine drinking, which should be about lingering enjoyment), so my advice is to serve the wines slightly warmer at a tasting.

But let’s not get overly complicated. If in doubt, serve the wine on the cooler side of its natural range and then allow it to warm up in the glass naturally. You can encourage this by cupped hands and discover the changes in flavours as wine warms, with new nuances of aroma and flavour exposed. The evolution of a wine as it sits in the glass is affected by temperature as well as the exposure to air.

A Rough Guide to wine serving temperatures. Temperatures are in °C, plus an approximate chill time in your Refrigerator if necessary.
White
Light/sweet	6 - 10 °C	4+ hours
Light/aromatic/dry	8 - 12 °C	2 hours
Medium bodied/dry	10 - 12 °C	1.5 hours
Full dry	12 - 16 °C	1 hour
Full/sweet	8 - 12 °C	2 hours
Rosé
Treat as for whites above
Red
Light/soft	10 - 12 °C	1.5 hours
Medium	16 - 17 °C
Full &/or Tannic	16 - 18 °C
Sparkling
White	6-10°C	4 + hours
Red	10-12 °C	1.5 hours

Please do remember that these are guidelines rather than rules, as this is far from an exact science and every wine is unique! More importantly, you are the arbiter and enjoying wine is always about your own personal choice.

So having established some rough serving temperatures, there are of course good and not-so-good means of achieving them. Some of these are obvious and some are common sense. Again, physics can help – because water conducts heat more efficiently than air, methods that employ water are frequently the quickest and most successful, particularly useful if the wine has been forgotten about until the last minute. They are worth knowing about even if you are the lucky owner of a specialist Wine Cabinet as these are unlikely to be able to store wines with a range of optimal serving temperatures.

Chilling down

Ice Bucket – the ideal way for a rapid chill. You don’t need much ice as it’s the water that is important. Ensure most of the bottle is immersed. Easily overdone, as the wine will over-chill if left too long.

Fridge – generally safe and reliable, 1 - 4+ hours needed, depending on the ‘fridge setting (typically at around 7 °C). It’s much slower because it relies on air temperature.

Gel wrap - inexpensive and reasonably efficient accessory but check it can be adjusted to different sized bottles. Also buy one that can be heated to warm wines up too.

Doorstep – in the UK this is very successful at almost any time of year. Your neighbours will ask you who your milkman is.

River/sea – is there a better way on a warm sunny picnic? Do ensure the bottle is securely tethered and leave the cork in! More fun than an electric coolbox.

Warming up

Use an ice bucket in reverse; fill it with luke warm (not hot) water as the best way to obtain gentle but rapid warming.

Plan ahead - Leave the bottle in the living room or airing cupboard. Kitchens can get too hot. Ensure no direct heat.

Use your hands to warm the wine in the glass after serving.

Ba-a-a-d methods, to be avoided

Microwave. For sado-masochists only. You’ll cook the wine in seconds unless you are very skilled. And bottles with Screwcaps or foil will spark!

Open fire or a Radiator. Again, a sure-fire way to cook a wine. Avoid if at all possible.

Freezer. Very dangerous. I learnt my lesson with a Grand Cru Chablis. Water expands as it freezes – so the bottle exploded and I was left with shards of glass and frozen alcopop. Use a gel wrap instead.

Heating the wine glass with a candle. I witnessed this in an Italian wine shop where the proprietor reduced his Chianti and Barolo to murky soup. They tasted awful.

And so to a final burning question. Do I use a thermometer? In public, no. In private…well, my OCD tendencies are harder to control, so I do possess one but it’s used only rarely. Thermometers are not strictly necessary but may help you to get a feeling for temperature range. If you are interested in buying one go for the traditional thermometer type rather than those based on metal bands that fit around the bottle – they rarely fit properly and tend to be inaccurate.

Finally, stick to one of life’s maxims whatever you do - be gentle and have fun experimenting.

© Paul Howard 2007