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Cool Research

By Sylvia Jansen, DipWSET, CSW, Sommelier

Serve well chilled. Room temperature. Serve light reds at 12°C–14°C. These directions are on bottle back labels, wine references, courses, and apps. Nevertheless, we usually serve wine at one of two temperatures: straight out of the fridge or straight off the table. Then it sits on that table or patio, its temperature constantly changing, mostly for the worse. We usually blame the wine for being uninteresting. But accepted wisdom says that a full-bodied red wine should be served at room temperature only if your room is no warmer than 16°C, and for most whites, the fridge and ice bucket are too cold.

To test this advice, I used a lab thermometer and our culinary thermometer (wine research: sign me up). I measured the dining room (21°C, cozy for some), the wine cellar under the stairs (not terrible, about 16°C), the refrigerator (a chilly 3°C), and an ice-water bucket (tastebud-freezing 1°C).

From there, I tried a few wines (research purposes only). One was the Vins de Vienne 2018 Les Cranilles Côtes du Rhône red, a lovely Grenache-Syrah blend (14% alcohol) and a beautiful barbecue partner. I allowed it to come to 21°C, then tasted a small sample. The fruit was dull, with a peppery note and not much of interest. The structural balance was also off, with grainy tannins, dominant alcohol, and rather flat acidity. With 10 minutes in a bucket of ice and water, it was just under 15°C, the fruit lifting into blackberry, plum, and black cherry, with cardamom, cocoa, and clove spice notes alongside pepper, with alcohol in check, refreshing acidity and earthy, dusty tannins nicely balancing the frame. It was a different and beautiful wine. I repeated these steps with sparkling, white, rosé, and fortified wines, with the ice bucket, fridge, room temperature, and a Corkcicle™ decanter (this was no one-night project). My conclusion: the accepted wisdom is good wisdom. The lighter the body of the wine, the more chilled it should be. The fuller the wine, the less time for chilling—but even if you have a temperature-controlled wine cabinet, some chilling is needed either before or during your enjoyment. The thicker the bottle (think sparkling), the longer it takes to get to the sweet spot. Over the course of dinner or an evening, the wine’s temperature almost always needs a bit of attention, either out of the ice bath, or in, or alternating.

I need to say that a wine’s first obligation is to give you pleasure, so your own preferences matter a lot. If pleasure comes from tossing an ice cube into your white or rosé or even red on the dock or in your dining room, you should go ahead and do that, unapologetically. If you want to try the accepted wisdom, we have created this chart for your ease of use. These are guidelines, so please take out your culinary thermometer and start your own experiments.

So here’s to you, well researched.

Summer Chilling Guide

Starting point Style of wine Finding the perfect wine balance

3°C

Refrigerator

15°C

Wine fridge or cellar

21°C

Room temperature

Patio 27°C+

full-bodied red full-bodied white rosé

light-bodied red light white sparkling 5 minutes on ice ready to drink!

15 minutes on the counter after refrigeration

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