At What Temperature should I serve my wine?
Does Serving Temperature Matter?
The short answer is yes. Typically in the New World, and certainly in Australia, we tend to serve our whites too cold and our reds too warm. Our climate, lifestyle and convenience has a big impact on this.
There is not a great depth of scientific evidence supporting this, but work is being done. Most of these suggestions and those that you read are based on practical drinking experience. Do not be afraid to test it for yourself.
As a general rule, you should aim to serve your white wines between 8-14 degrees (that is, out of fridge for 10 mins before you start drinking) and the reds at less than 20 degrees but warmer than the whites.
What happens to wine if it is too cold or too hot?
Lower wine serving temperatures are expected to hide sweetness and promote sourness but conversely they tend to reduce the wine aroma. Warmer temperatures tend to promote bitterness and astringency.
For sparkling wines, low temperatures promote the retention of carbon dioxide, and hence most people serve sparkling wine cool to keep the bubbles for longer.
Once you get beyond warm and move into tropical room temperature, you can get alcohol burn, so avoid serving higher alcohol wines warm. Brighter reds like grenache are better chilled for example.
Red Wine Serving Temperature
Different styles and compositions will impact the ideal serving temperature, but certainly get the reds under 22 degrees. Fruiter lighter wines can certainly be served cooler.
Sparkling Red best served straight out of the fridge and allowed to warm (keep under 12 degrees if you can). This will retain the bubbles longer whilst adding some refreshment on a warm day. As the sparkling red warms, and the bubbles subside, you will see it evolve into a traditional dry red wine.
Red Wines - are best served between 15 and 20 degrees. Cooler temperatures for less tannic fresher, lighter reds.
White Wine Serving Temperature
White Wines - are best served between 8 and 12 degrees. Crisper lighter whites, such as riesling or sauvingnon blanc at the cooler end, fuller bodied oaked wines such as Chardonnay or Roussanne at the warmer end with Semillon sitting nicely in the middle.
Sparkling Serving Temperature
Sparkling Whites typically best served cold, straight from the fridge or ice bucket at 4-8 degrees. This will retain the bubbles longer and enhance the refreshing acid spine of the wine.
It is warm, how do I get it to the preferred temperature?
Once you have decided to chill your wine, what is the best way to do it? There are a few common mechanisms, all of which can work at different speeds (so a little depends on the urgency):
1) Place the bottle in the fridge (process is slow and might take up to 2 hours to get a white to temperature, 1 hour for a red)
2) Place the bottle in an ice bath (with salt if you want to speed up the process, salt reduces the freezing temperature and will allow you to chill in 10 mins or less)
3) Place the bottle in the freezer (will take 30 mins or so)
4) Place the Bottle in a Cooling Sleeve (depending on how cold the sleeve is, up to 45 mins)
Research suggests that the spread of chilling does not have a material impact on the wines flavours. That is, if you chill it quickly or chill it slowly’, the wine will most likely taste the same. So pick the method for which you have the equipment and the time.
Have you got a Wine Fridge?
Wine fridges have become increasingly popular to organise and preserve your wine. Some are single temperature, others have zones. For our single zone wine fridges, we set them cool, circa 15 degrees C, and we serve both our whites and reds straight from the wine fridge. Our Sparklings spend a bit of time in ice or the fridge before serving.
And for Hayes Family Wines
As stated above, this is about taste and preference so try it for yourself. For our wines, I would tend to serve them as follows:
Very Cold 4-6 degrees C (Ice bucket or straight from the fridge) Blanc de Noirs
Very Cool 6-10 degrees C Sparkling Shiraz
Cool 10-14 degrees C Whites (Semillon, Chardonnay) & Rose
Cool Room Temperature 14-16 degrees C Lighter Reds (Grenache)
Room Temperature 17-18 degrees C Mid Weight Reds (GSM and Mataro)
Room Temperature 17-18 degrees C Heavier Reds (Shiraz, Cabernet, Fortifieds)