wine serving temperature

Above 65°F, a red wine imparts too much of its alcohol content as flavor, never a desirable taste. It’s more convenient to allow a wine to warm up in its glass than to put it back in the refrigerator or ice bucket. One easy way to warm up a glass of wine is to cup your hands around the glass while you swirl.

A common misconception is that red wine should be served at “room temperature”. This makes no sense since depending upon geography and season, your room may be much warmer or colder than my room. You do not want to serve your red wine at a temperature higher than 60-65°F, depending upon the type of red wine. You will want to serve Beajoulais, a light, fruity red at the lowest temperature (approximately 55°F), your medium bodied reds such as Chiante, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel at a slightly higher temperature (approximately 60°F), and your full bodied reds such as Bordeaux, Cabernet, Merlot, and Shiraz a hint warmer (approximately 63-65°F). To reach the proper wine serving temperature, it is best to have the correct type of home storage unit so your wines are kept at a constant 55-60°F. However, if your red wine has been stored at room temperature, you’ll want to either put it in the refrigerator or into an ice bucket for 30-60 minutes before serving. Be sure to include water with the ice – it will chill more quickly.

White Wine Serving Temperature

For white wines, the opposite may be true. It’s better to serve a white wine too warm than too cold. White wines served too cold (under 45°F) lose many of their flavors and aromas. However, you still want to serve your white wines colder than your red wines. Serving white wines at a lower temperature brings out their natural fruity, fresh, and sweet characteristics. You will want to serve your white wines at 45-55°F, depending upon the wine and your personal preference. A Reisling will be better a bit colder than a Pinot Gris or a Chardonnay. Since most home refrigerators are kept at between 35-40°F, it’s best not to serve your white wines right out of the refrigerator. Removing your white wine from the refrigerator 30-60 minutes before serving should bring them to about the right temperature. And, you can always warm the wine up by cupping your hands around the glass as you swirl. If your white wine has been kept at room temperature, place it in the refrigerator or ice bucket for 30-60 minutes before serving.

Food and Wine made simple

Drink what you like.

What you like to drink always takes precedence over any recommendation that I might make.

Start by thinking about the dish or meal as a whole. What are its dominant characteristics?

• Is it mild or flavorful?
• Is it fatty or lean?
• Is it rich or acidic?

With these characteristics in mind, select a wine that will:

Keep flavors in balance.

Match mild foods with mild wines.Match big, flavorful foods with big, flavorful wines. For example, pair a bold-flavored Pepper Steak with a spicy, bold red Zinfandel. Similarly you generally want to match the richness of the food and the richness of the wine. For example, pair a rich Chicken in Cream Sauce with a rich Chardonnay. You can refer to our Wine Board to see what different wines taste like.

Cleanse the palate with tannins or acids.

If you’re eating a relatively rich, ‘fatty’ dish and thinking about drinking a red wine (when you eat a beef steak, for example) you probably want a wine with some good tannins* in it to help cleanse the palate.

If you’re eating a very rich, ‘fatty’ dish and thinking about drinking a white wine (when you eat fried chicken, for example) you probably want to contrast the meal with a refreshingly crisp acidic wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc. You can ignore this rule for dishes that are just relatively fatty – such as Chicken in Cream Sauce – which will probably do better with a rich Chardonnay that can match their rich flavors.

Match Acids with Acids

If you’re eating a dish with a strong acidic content (such as Shrimp with Lemon or Pasta with Tomato Sauce) pair it with an acidic wine that can keep up with the acids in the food.

Acidic Wines and Cream Don’t Mix

Rich cream sauces will usually clash with an acidic wine like a Sauvignon Blanc. Think about it this way…If you squeezed lemon juice into a cup of milk, would it taste good?

Wine and Strong Spices

Strong spices, such as hot chili peppers in some Chinese or Indian food, can clash and destroy the flavors in a wine. In most cases, wine is not the ideal thing to drink. However, if wine is what you must have, consider something spicy and sweet itself such as an off-dry Gewurtztraminer or Riesling.

When In Doubt…

Remember that foods generally go best with the wines they grew up with. So if you’re eating Italian food, think about having an Italian wine. This isn’t a requirement, but often helps simplify the decision.

Red wine & health

Many studies investigated the benefits of red wine suggested that moderate amount of red wine (one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men) lowers the risk of heart attack for people in middle age by ~ 30 to 50 percent. It is also suggested that alcohol such as red wine may prevent additional heart attacks if you have already suffered from one. Other studies also indicated that red wine can raise HDL cholesterol (the Good cholesterol) and prevent LDL cholesterol (the Bad cholesterol) from forming. Red wine may help prevent blood clots and reduce the blood vessel damage caused by fat deposits. Indeed, studies showed that people from the Mediterranean region who regularly drank red wine have lower risks of heart disease.

What’s in Red Wine that are good for heart?

Red wine is a particularly rich source of antioxidants flavonoid phenolics, so many studies to uncover a cause for red wine’s effects have focused on its phenolic constituents, particularly resveratrol and the flavonoids. Resveratrol, found in grape skins and seeds, increases HDL cholesterol and prevent blood clotting. Flavonoids, on the other hand, exhibit antioxidant properties helping prevent blood clots and plaques formation in arteries.

Grapes, many other fruits and vegetables and regular physical activities offer the same benefits for heart as seen in alcohol. Include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet to maximize the heart health benefits.

What are the health benefits of drinking red wine?

Red wine

For over 10 years, research has indicated that moderate intake of alcohol improves cardiovascular health. In fact, in 1992 Harvard researchers included moderate alcohol consumption as one of the “eight proven ways to reduce coronary heart disease risk.” However, research has suggested that specifically red wine is the most beneficial to your heart health. The cardioprotective effect has been attributed to antioxidants present in the skin and seeds of red grapes.

Scientists believe the antioxidants, called flavonoids, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in three ways:

• by reducing production of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (also know as the “bad” cholesterol)
• by boosting high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good cholesterol)
• by reducing blood clotting. Furthermore, consuming a glass of wine along with a meal may favorably influence your lipid profiles following that meal

Recently, researchers have found that moderate red wine consumption may be beneficial to more than just your heart. One study found that the antioxidant resveratrol, which is prevalent in the skin of red grapes, may inhibit tumor development in some cancers. Another study indicated that resveratrol aided in the formation of nerve cells, which experts believe may be helpful in the treatment of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Wine decanting

Wines which have aged in bottle, typically red wines rather than white, will generally throw a sediment by perhaps ten years of age or more. Not only is this sediment displeasing to the eye, it can also be quite unpleasant in the mouth. More than any other wines, these are the ones that deserve decanting. Young wines also benefit from decanting, although the aim is not to take the wine off its sediment (there is rarely any such sediment in young wines), but rather to aerate the wine. The action of decanting itself, and the large surface area in contact with the air in the decanter, alters the wine, softening its youthful bite and encouraging the development of the more complex aromas that normally develop with years in bottle. For this reason even inexpensive wines plucked from the shelves of the local supermarket can benefit from decanting, if a first taste reveals a tannic, grippy, youthful structure.

Eiswein

Legend has it the first eiswein was produced in Germany in 1794 when a vineyard owner accidentally left his grapes too long on the vine. When his staff decided to pick and process the grapes anyway, the result was eiswein. At the time it was called “winter wine” and it remained Germany’s secret until 1962. Eiswein may not be produced every year as the winters must be cold enough for the grapes to freeze. Natural ice wine requires the temperature in Germany to be a minimum of −7 °C (19 °F). The most common type of eiswein in Germany is produced from the Riesling grape. Some ice wine from Germany have an alcohol content as low as 6%. There is much debate over whether ice wines improve with age. Even though Germany began the eiswein tradition, Canada is now the largest producer of ice wines worldwide.

Serving champagne with style

Removing the cork quietly, cooling the wine to right temperature, and to keep it in the glass and off your guests — is not a natural gift. It requires a little dexterity, concentration, and a good dose of practice. Champagne should be served in long-stemmed flutes or tulip shaped glasses. These are designed to enhance the flow of bubbles to the crown and to concentrate the aromas of the wine. Never chill or ice the glass as it would take away from the enjoyment of the wine. Incidentally, since the surface texture of crystal is rougher than ordinary glass, more bubbles form on these glasses. What one drinks champagne out of has often been dictated by fashion. The champagne coupe or saucer-shaped glass, while very popular, was never designed for drinking champagne. It is unstable and does not allow you to fully appreciate the benefits of the wine. There is a legend that it was modelled from the bosom of Marie-Antoinette. Hugh Johnson states that this is not entirely without foundation. “The Sèvres porcelain factory did take a cast from this august model and produced four detailed white bowels that were mounted on elaborate bases of three goat’s heads to adorn the Queen’s Dairy Temple at the Château de Rambouillet near Versailles. The dairy still exists; as does one of the four coupes.” Champagne is to be served cold at about 43 to 48°F (7°C). In this range the smell and taste of the wine can be fully appreciated. This temperature can be achieved by placing the unopened bottle in an ice bucket — one-half ice and one-half water — for 20 to 30 minutes. Or, you may refrigerate it for 3 to 4 hours. the refrigerator temperature is too cold for the bottle to be left in there for extended periods. It should never be placed in the freezer.

Storing opened bottle of wine

Many regular wine drinkers find that just half a bottle of wine is satisfactory for an evenings drinking, and this level of intake does no harm to an otherwise healthy liver. In the absence of a companion to finish the bottle, drinking in moderation means dealing with the preservation of left over wine. It seems quite reasonable that we should keep the wine for the following day, but will the wine last this long? How should we keep it fresh, in the condition in which the winemaker intended it to be enjoyed?Pulling the cork on a bottle of wine is a crucial moment in time. It is a point of no-return, as once cork has been separated from bottle, the wine is exposed to oxygen in the air, which has the potential to cause great harm. How the wine holds up as it released from its captivity depends on a number of factors, but the age of the wine is without doubt one of the most important. A young wine, say a classed growth claret of just five years of age, will benefit from exposure to the air at first. Decanting the wine into a suitable container helps to soften the tannins, and allows the bouquet to develop. Very old wines, however, are much more fragile, and may rapidly collapse, losing much of their character and bouquet within just minutes or hours of being opened.Consequently, it seems silly to expect an old and venerable wine to survive from one day to the next. But for younger, sturdier wines which, for most of us at least, comprise the vast majority of our drinking, there are methods which may be employed to preserve the wine so that it may be enjoyed the following day.

Proper wine service

Proper wine service is a must have server skill. So you are working in a restaurant that serves wine and your training was inadequate. Well, it’s really no great surprise as many restaurants today seem to just gloss over proper wine service in their training processes. No big deal right? What’s the worst that can happen? You break off the cork in the bottle and have to fumble around trying to recover. You put a bottle between your legs to give you leverage to pull out the cork or heaven forbid you drop a bottle. No big deal right? WRONG. As a new server you may not yet have the skills to dance around your wine lists varietals and vintages, but proper wine service at a table is a must. Proper wine service for service staff should be as basic to you as serving from the left and clearing from the right. Whether your table has ordered a $15 bottle of White Zin or $200 bottle of Cabernet proper wine service is proper wine service and you should follow the same steps.

Serving temperatures for whites and reds

White wines:

Light to medium body like Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and Chardonnay if they are served colder, the aromas and flavors will be minimized and you ll not get full enjoyment. Best serving temperature: 7°C or 45 °F. Full bodied like rich white Burgundies are best served at 10 °C or 50 °F

Red wines:

Red wines are best served at cellar temperature which is 55 °F, which is perfect for storing wine. The reason that red wines are best enjoyed at slightly reduced temperatures is that alcohol will produce unpleasant bite on the palate when served at normal room temperature. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Bordeaux, Zinfandel, Shyrah are best served at: 15 °C or 60 °F.

What’s the big deal about storing a wine at a certain temperature? Simply put, wine is a perishable good. Storing a fine wine at 100° will cause it to lose its flavor, while storing it at 0° will cause as much damage. The trick with wine is to store it at a stable, ideal temperature, and then to serve it at a temperature which best shows off its personal characteristics. If you serve a wine too cool, the flavors will all be hidden. It’s like eating a frozen pizza while it’s still frozen. If you serve a wine too hot, all you can taste is the alcohol.

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Sommelier Certificate Graduates 2011

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