“Serve white wines cold, red wines at room temperature.” That’s standard advice, and it makes some sense. But what exactly is room temperature?
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It has been one hot summer in the U.S., in much of Europe, and pretty much all over the Northern Hemisphere. Even with the air conditioner roaring, chances are that your dining room is going to be warmer than the ideal temperature for a dry red wine.
The experts at Trane Air Conditioning suggest setting your thermostat at 78ºF. Many Americans ignore this advice, typically opting for a comfy 71º to 73º during the day.
Experts say the ideal temperature for comfort and cost savings is 78°, according to Accuweather. That’s entirely too warm for a good red wine.
But think about this: Wine enthusiasts with the means and motive to keep their treasures in a wine cellar will pull out a bottle at cellar temperature, a chilly 55ºF. That’s a good 20 to 25 degrees colder than most air-conditioned rooms and, in my opinion, a little too cold to enjoy most reds in their full complexity.
The answer, as it so often does, lies somewhere between the two extremes. I suggest serving red wine – particularly during hot weather – around 65ºF. Don’t obsess about precision. A thermometer is not necessary. Put your wine in the refrigerator for a half-hour or in the freezer for 10 minutes before opening it. If you overshoot and get the wine a little too cold, a few minutes on the table will bring it back up.
A light chill, especially on hot days, makes the wine seem more refreshing. It moderates the relatively harsh flavors of alcohol and acidity while highlighting the wine’s good fruit flavors.
Even now that fall is here and we’re running the air conditioner a little less, there’ll be plenty more hot days to come. I’m going to keep chilling my red wine for a few minutes before opening. How about you?
“Drink red wine at room temperature.” Does that even work during hot weather? How do you cope? Pop the wine in the fridge, crank down the AC, or what?
Today’s featured wine, La Porte d’Or Bourgogne Pinot Noir, is an excellent entry-level Burgundy, and 10 minutes of freezer time served it very well on a 97º late-summer afternoon.
Because La Porte d’Or Bourgogne Pinot Noir is priced around $30, I have to lock it behind our subscription paywall. Because I buy all the wines I review at retail and do not accept wine samples or other gratuities from the industry, I rely on the support of paid subscribers to help cover these costs.
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