The temperature of wine directly impacts our enjoyment of wine. The right wine serving temperature can expose nuance and emphasize wine's good qualities.
Knowing how serving temperature affects wine gives you the ability to “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative” characteristics in wine.
At cooler temperatures, wine seems “fresher”, acidity is sharper, sweetness is tamped down, and alcohol is tamed.
Serving wine at warmer temperatures accentuates fruit and alcohol, and tannin will seem riper.
All wine should be served under 20 (68°F) degrees.
TIP: When in doubt, serve colder, it will warm in the glass.
Wine Serving Temperature
I make a bigger deal about the serving temperature of wine than I do about some of the other “rules” that swirl around wine appreciation because the serving temperature has a direct impact on our enjoyment of wine.
Goldilocks liked white wine not too cold and red wine not too warm.
Wine serving temperatures impact how the compounds are perceived, so not only do proper temperatures reveal nuance and highlight the good qualities in a wine, knowing how temperature affects wine lets you fiddle with the knobs (so to speak), boosting weaker aromas or masking undesired traits. For example, more aromas are released from the wine at warmer temperatures, so the bouquet is more intense, but in some wines, particularly some white wines, certain aromas can be unwelcome.
Cooler Wine Serving Temperatures
Cooler wine tends to work “fresher” on the palate, and lower wine serving temperatures sharpen acidity that can balance better with the fruit.
The palate perceives sweetness more intensely at higher temperatures, which can be cloying, so sweet wines benefit from being served cool.
High alcohol wine can be tamed by serving cool.
However, if wine is served too cold, bitterness and acidity feel more intense on the palate. This can make red wines too brash.
When wine is served under 6°C (43°F) the aroma in wine won’t be released, and even the most intense wines seem dulled and haggard. This is a reason not to serve wine straight out of a refrigerator.
Warmer Wine Serving Temperatures
Higher wine serving temperatures bring out the fruit and alcohol in wine, and tannin will seem riper.
However, if you serve wine above 20°C (68°F), you can expect your palate to get walloped by an alcoholic miasma. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
All wine should be served under 20 (68°F) degrees.
Cooling wines
The best way to take from storage temperature (see How To Store Wine) to serving temperature is by putting the wine bottle in an ice bucket before serving.
That said, most of us will condition the wine in the refrigerator, which contrary to some nasty rumors, doesn’t hurt anything. Just keep in mind that refrigerators are colder (3-4°C/37-39°F) than the serving temperatures even for whites (8-10°C/46-50°F).
TIP: the wine will warm up quickly when poured, so serve a couple of degrees cooler than “serving” temperature
TIP: When in doubt, serve too cold. Unless you’re on the tundra, it will warm in the glass.
Putting an ice cube in wine is not illegal.
Wine Serving Temperature Guidelines
- 15 -20°C (59- 68°F)
- Complex red wines such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Rioja, etc…
- 12 -15 °C (54 - 59°F)
- Low tannin, young red wines, Beaujolais, and other New World reds.
- 10-15 °C (50 - 59°F)
- Complex white wines such as top white Bordeaux wines, New World Chardonnays, and mature Mosel Rieslings.
- 6-10 °C (43°F-50°F)
- Simple white wines, rose wine, sparkling wines, and sweet wines.
Extra Nerd Credit: what is “Chambrer”, and why have I never heard of this before?
Chambrer is a French word from the 19th-century meaning, to carefully bring to room temperature. (Chambrieren in German)
Use it to impress your guests, but keep in mind that the “chambre” in question is in an old, pre-central heating chateau.