Chill Wine?

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

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Chill it to cellar temp (around 50F), so like half an hour in the fridge. If you chill it down too much the tannins taste overblown and it throws the wine out of balance, but bringing it down to cellar temp highlights the acidity and gives the wine a bit more structure. Wines being kept long-term should also be stored at this temperature with absolutely no sunlight exposure and limited exposure to vibrations.

The only red wines that should be chilled cooler than that are things like Fleurie and Chiroubles Cru Beaujolais, some reds from the Italian Alps like Valtellina and Valle d'Aosta wines, a red Vinho Verde, some desserts/sparkling reds like Brachetto d'Aqui, and really light and fruit forward wines like a Bourgueil grown on alluvial soils. Most red wines are harmed by anything colder.

From my understanding, red wine is never chilled.

White wine is.

But I think at the end of the day it’s up to personal preference, I’ve committed sacrilege and sometimes chilled red wine and I don’t think it was ever detrimental.

Personal preference. I like wine slightly cooled, not cold. Be happy.

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

I declined to vote, because I'm a cheap-alcohol heathen. I drink for a buzz first, and think about taste if I actually have the expendable income to do so. I'll sometimes bring wine for my brother, who doesn't like beer, but I won't think too hard about whether it's actually cold. I try to drink everything cold, but only because I'm used to drinking that which must be cold in order to be rendered tolerable. I would personally put the wine in the fridge for a bit, but I can't actually tell you if that's going to release whatever the optimal taste of the wine is supposed to encompass, and even then, it's probably dependant on the wine.

For something like this, I would trust google over my friends. Certainly don't trust me. I drink Steel Reserve. If you know anything about that 'beer', then you know that it basically disqaulifies me from talking about alcohol preferences.

It is the type of red that makes the difference, and it has much to do with the grape it is made from.

For instance a Pinot Noir will likely be better at 65°F whereas a good Cab will be outstanding at room temp. Some will say taking Reds down to 55°F for whatever but I have never seen that in purchase at a store, nor have I ever stored them at that temp, nor have I seen one served that cold at a restaurant no matter if with appetizer or entree (or even at the bar.)

In fact most will offer that when serving a Red against just about anything it should be room temp. Be it a fruit / cheese type complement with or separate from a meal, or even with the best of steaks at some restaurant, they will suggest the Red get to room temp even if in storage it was lower. So it may be as high as 70°F or more at the time of consumption.

(Yes, I am a bit of a red wine fan. Second to perhaps bourbon.)

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

It depends on the wine. Experiment.

I chill, then taste as it warms. Where the flavor peaks is the best temp.

Same with beer. I prefer darker beers. I will sip a craft beer then let is set for a while. Porters and stouts really open up as they warm.

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

I voted no...then I wondered, so I checked.

I was wrong.

You might find this helpful.

Perfect drinking temperature for wine guide - Wineware.co.uk

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Whether to chill red wine depends on the wine. A few of them are better chilled than not.

• Beaujolais
• Frappato
• Pinot Noir
• Loire Valley Cabernet Franc
• Valpolicella Classico
• Non-French Gamay wines (Four from Oregon are noted here.)

Chilled reds are generally summer wines. For a few specific suggestions of modestly priced options, click here. One I tried last summer is Virecourt Conte Bordeaux. It went great with burgers, ribs, and hotdogs, and the chill made it refreshing in the heat.

For most reds, I aim for about 60-70 degrees, but for summer reds, chilled (about 50 to 55 degrees) does wonders for them because it makes them less "alcoholy" and the fruit comes out more. Of course, if one just wants to "get one's booze on," temperature doesn't matter. LOL

Try for yourself and see what you like best. That's easiest to do if you have a temperature controlled cellar or a wine fridge. If you have neither, just put the bottle in the fridge on one day and do your tasting the next day. What's below isn't a "perfect" approach, but it'll get the job done well enough for you to figure out roughly at what temp you most like the wine. That'll give you a baseline you can use for other wines. As with so much about food and wine, having a baseline point of reference is key to figuring out, well, everything...from what tastes best to you to how and how long to cook something. After all, they're your taste buds you need to satisfy, and you're the only one who knows what your taste buds "think" about anything.


Buy a decent, but not too pricey cabernet, and chill it. Pour just a sip's worth (however much you'd normally drink were the glass full) of wine in one glass and fill a second glass to about 1/4th to 1/3rd the way to the top of glass. Put the bottle back in the fridge. Take the first one and just drink it chilled straight from the fridge.

Then pour two sips' worth in the same glass, and with the stem between your middle and ring fingers and holding the globe in your palm and fingers on the glass, swirl the wine around until you can tell it's not as chilly as it was when you started. (A minute or there about should do it unless your notion of a sip is what I'd call a gulp. It'll also take longer if your red wine glasses are thick.)

• Two sips are so if you don't warm it enough, you have a second sip to try after another minute or two.

By this time, the other glass has had about five to ten minutes of sitting time from when you poured it and will have warmed, so give it a try.

• You can pour more than 1/4 to 1/3 a glass if you want. Doing so just makes it take longer for the wine in the glass to warm and it makes it harder for the heat of your hand to warm the first taste.

If it's still cool, well, you can use the same technique from above to warm it up a little bit.

You may also want to pour a sip from the bottle into your now-empty first glass and drink it straight away.

• If you didn't put the bottle back in the fridge, you'll be able to repeat the first small-sip step from the same starting point, thus allowing you to adjust more accurately for having over or under warmed the first sips you took.
• If you didn't put the bottle back in the fridge, you'll discover how much or little the bottle cools over however long it took you to perform the above tastes.

At the end of the day, whether you drink your reds chilled (or not) is wholly up to you and your tastebuds. And, yes, when you go to a restaurant, you most certainly can ask the waiter to put a too-warm glass of red in the fridge for a few minutes or in blast chiller for a minute. Of, if buying a bottle, ask them to bring it to your table in a champagne bucket with salted ice and water in it. Just tell them you want it chilled to white-wine temperature. From your little experimentation above, you'll be able to manage the rest from there.

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Depending on the wine, your mood, what you are eating or not eating, the time of day, the phase of the moon, your age, is the dog whining, your personal tastes, if the wine is in a paper bag and your are on a park bench, it can go either way. Now you know why I voted for the third option.

There is no rule of thumb, just myths. Some wines, like lambruscos taste better when chilled, others like merlots better at room temperature, and white wines always better slightly chilled. In Italy and southern France I found almost everyone puts a small sugar cube at the bottom of the glass before pouring table wine, in the north I found people heating red wines slightly before serving, adding spices, and a bit of water. In most of France, no one bothered as long as the wine wasn't sour, and then they added honey. No one had worst tastes for wine than the Brits, not even the Irish.

In blind taste tests, connoisseurs couldn't tell the difference between cheap wines and the most expensive. That should tell you something.

Ultimately, wine is not like a cola, and however you enjoy it is fine by me. But then I like ginger ale warm or at least at room temperature. So what do I know?

I give the grandkids watered wine at formal dinners, and afterwards they act as if they were drunk having consumed one short glass, but then without the watered wine they also do act like they are drunk. There can be no other explanation for the odd things they tend to do.

Now stop hogging the bottle, pass that jug of Gallo, and I don't care what temperature it is.

And remember, Champagne and other sparkling wines were once considered trash wines.

Yeah, personal taste. I personally only drink red wine at room temp. I find chilled red wine to be undrinkable.

Depends...dry red or white wine, I prefer at room temp...sweet red or white wine, I prefer chilled...

Who cares what others do? Ketchup on a hot dog? If that's what one likes live and let live. How many whines are there in the world? Should we all drink the same ONE?

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

It depends on the particular wine a bit but drinking it at around 65°F is good for most red wines.

Some red Maddog 20/20?

Hell to the yeah....

A 2013 Silver Oak Napa Cab?

Might want to think about it...

Depends what kinda red.

OldFatGuy said:

Depending on the wine, your mood, what you are eating or not eating, the time of day, the phase of the moon, your age, is the dog whining, your personal tastes, if the wine is in a paper bag and your are on a park bench, it can go either way. Now you know why I voted for the third option.

There is no rule of thumb, just myths. Some wines, like lambruscos taste better when chilled, others like merlots better at room temperature, and white wines always better slightly chilled. In Italy and southern France I found almost everyone puts a small sugar cube at the bottom of the glass before pouring table wine, in the north I found people heating red wines slightly before serving, adding spices, and a bit of water. In most of France, no one bothered as long as the wine wasn't sour, and then they added honey. No one had worst tastes for wine than the Brits, not even the Irish.

In blind taste tests, connoisseurs couldn't tell the difference between cheap wines and the most expensive. That should tell you something.

Ultimately, wine is not like a cola, and however you enjoy it is fine by me. But then I like ginger ale warm or at least at room temperature. So what do I know?

I give the grandkids watered wine at formal dinners, and afterwards they act as if they were drunk having consumed one short glass, but then without the watered wine they also do act like they are drunk. There can be no other explanation for the odd things they tend to do.

Now stop hogging the bottle, pass that jug of Gallo, and I don't care what temperature it is.

And remember, Champagne and other sparkling wines were once considered trash wines.

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Red:
I've only come by folks doing that with bubbly.


Blue:
I prefer most of my non-alcoholic beverages at room temp too -- but not sweet tea, though I will drink it at room temp. The room temp allows for faster guzzling when I'm really thirsty.

Xelor said:

Red:
I've only come by folks doing that with bubbly.


Blue:
I prefer most of my non-alcoholic beverages at room temp too -- but not sweet tea, though I will drink it at room temp. The room temp allows for faster guzzling when I'm really thirsty.

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I come from folks who drank Thunderbird and Ripple, intentionally.

I do like my coffee hot, or iced come summer.

You should be aware, in the American South, sweet tea is sweetened with Kentucky corn mash aka bourbon, tho sometime Southern Comfort (made from peaches), and don't even think about indulging in more than 1 Long Island Iced Tea and driving. I've seen horse races fixed with Florida Lemonade in a horse's drinking bucket. I've been known to indulge with all three beverages.

OldFatGuy said:

I come from folks who drank Thunderbird and Ripple, intentionally.

I do like my coffee hot, or iced come summer.

You should be aware, in the American South, sweet tea is sweetened with Kentucky corn mash aka bourbon, tho sometime Southern Comfort (made from peaches), and don't even think about indulging in more than 1 Long Island Iced Tea and driving. I've seen horse races fixed with Florida Lemonade in a horse's drinking bucket. I've been known to indulge with all three beverages.

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By "Southern Comfort (made with peaches)," do you mean this....



....or this...


...?

The latter. Tho canned and jarred peaches are staple in most American supermarkets, what is done with them afterwards another story. As far as I'm concerned, Trader Joe's has the best jarred peaches, packed in a light grape juice. A legendary lust for cowboys of the old west.

Room temperature, for the love of GOD.



If a true red wine only tastes decent when chilled, it's obviously bilge water to begin with, or cheap ripple, which is more akin to cough syrup.

That said, some of the cheap blush wines, like the White Zinfandels, are actually not too bad chilled.
But those are almost dessert wines, yes?

I almost don't drink now due to health reasons (trying to keep my liver happy) but back when I used to drink, I liked to indulge in port, and I never chilled it in any way. Just left it in room temperature. It was fine.

Also, what that guys said, chill the white, not the red.

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Depends on the wine, depends on your personal taste, depends on the food you're eating with it, and the season.

Here in France, land of wine, you might chill the red lighter wines, (Bourgogne or Côtes du Rhone) especially in summer and especially if you're eating a salad or a light meat or a vegetarian meal. You'd rarely chill a full bodied Bordeaux or a heavy Basque wine, especially if you're having a heavy meal involving red meat, and especially in the thick of winter. Of all the French reds, Beaujolais is the one that is actually much better chilled than at room temperature. Most reds are best at room temperature.

Basically, experiment and drink it how you like it, and don't let wine snobs tell you that the way you like it is wrong.

Bonne dégustation!

when it's white or sweet red, i prefer it chilled. i'm not much into sweet wines, but if that's what's on the table, then i don't look a gift horse in the mouth. as for wine in general, i prefer non-sweet reds slightly below room temp.

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Depends totally on the wine

PoS said:

OK, now that my aunt form Spain sent me my annual care package of cold cuts, cheese and sweets. I am going to eat them with some wine, but here's something I'm not sure about.

Some people have told me its good to chill red wine before drinking it, while others say it should be drank in room temperature. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Some do and some don't.
Do as you like.