I was at a wine dinner last night where we drank a variety of French red wines. Given the wide range of grapes in the 10 wines—primarily Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre, with some Carignan and even a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir—and the somewhat warm, humid evening, I was wondering about the proper serving temperatures for the wines. Should we give some a bit of a chill? Do we need to decant any?
There are no hard-and-fast rules associated with proper serving temperature. As we note in "How to Serve Wine," optimal pouring temperatures vary by wine type and
characteristics. The body of wine plays as big of a role if not more of one in determining serving temperature.
Use the chart below as a guide, and visit our wine page to find ratings and recommendations (available to subscribers) of good-value reds and whites.—Steven H. Saltzman | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook
Essential information: Read about wine cellars/chillers and corkscrews.
This was great information! I always thought that wines were to be served straight out of the cellar at that temperature. I didn't know that the lighter whites were actually better much colder.
You know, this is a good guideline, but I think it's important to mention that the colder a wine is, the less you can taste of it. This might be a benefit if the wine is poor, but you can really suppress the beauty of an elegant wine by over chilling it.
So, for the most part, I tend to drink most all of my wines in the low 60's. On a warm summer day I tend to chill whites a little more, down into the 53F or so range.
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