Written on 27/01/2022
A few tips to avoid a cold shower!
You're sitting quietly at home, preparing to host a dinner party or aperitif, and you've bought a few bottles of wine to do so. But now you're faced with a number of questions: when should I take my white wine out of the fridge, or has my red wine warmed up too much?
As with any consumable product, temperature has a huge impact on wine. A wine that's too hot or too cold will not stand out, and your product risks being totally denatured. If your wine is too hot, for example, it can bring out the taste of alcohol, which is obviously unpleasant on the palate. A wine that's too cold will be atrophied, even aggressive.
We'll explain how to serve wines at the right temperature, and give you a few tips on how to keep them at the right temperature until serving.
To begin with, it's important to know that not all white or red wines can be enjoyed at the same temperature - quite the opposite, in fact.
- An opulent, tannic red: between 16 and 18 degrees.
- A fine red: between 14 and 16 degrees
- A light red: between 12 and 14 degrees
- Full-bodied, opulent white: between 11 and 14 degrees
- Dry white: between 9 and 11 degrees
- Sweet or syrupy white: between 10 and 12 degrees
- Champagne: between 7 and 11 degrees
If you have a wine cellar, it's obviously easier to keep wines at the right temperature. And this time, there's no distinction: all wines can be stored at the same temperature, i.e. 12° .
In addition to maintaining a constant temperature for perfect aging, the wine cellar can also be used to maintain the right temperature for serving. But beware: a wine kept at serving temperature must be drunk quickly, and for good reason: above 14°, aging accelerates, and below 10°, it slows down.
When you take your wine out, you also need to make sure that the temperature change is not too abrupt, which could alter your wine.
A little tip for serving at the right temperature: the rule of three! It takes three hours for a red wine from a cellar at 10° to reach 18° in a room at 20°. A white wine, on the other hand, can drop from 14° to 8° in 4 h 30 if placed in the door of your refrigerator. So get out your calculators and enjoy your tasting!
