From ice cold to room temp, learn how to improve your wine experience by serving it the right way.
The easiest way to dull the shine of a perfectly good bottle of wine is to serve it at the wrong temperature. I have a very expensive bottle of Bordeaux (and a rightfully grumpy restaurant customer) to thank for this lesson, but that’s a story for another day.
Getting your wine to the perfect temperature is worth its weight in gold. Too warm, and you’ll suck all the energy and vibrancy right out of it. Too cold, and you’ll dampen its aromatic charm and complexity. But every wine’s different, so knowing where to aim can be tricky.
Lucky for you, we’ve broken it down into six easy categories, from sparkling wine to big, bold reds and everything in between. There’s even a handy fridge guide to save you from dunking a thermometer into your glass before serving!
Sparkling: 3-6ºC
The best place to start is always sparkling. This one’s the easiest to get right. Sparkling wines, such as non-vintage Champagne, prosecco, Cava and the like, should almost exclusively be served ice cold, or 3 to 6ºC if we want to be specific. All those vibrant citrus flavours are at their best and freshest at ultra-low temperatures. The exception here is vintage Champagne, or any aged sparkling, as these are best served a little warmer to accentuate those toasty brioche flavours. Treat them like a lighter white, as you’ll see below.
Fridge guide: chill for at least two hours before serving.
Lighter whites: 7-10ºC
Just like sparkling, light and bright whites are best enjoyed at the colder end of the spectrum. The sweet spot is between 7ºC and 10ºC to lock in all those gorgeous fresh fruit flavours we love in wines like Eden Valley riesling or a nice Loire Valley sauvignon blanc. The lighter the wine, the cooler the temperature and vice versa.
Fridge guide: chill for a little over an hour.
Rosé: 7-14ºC
Here’s where things start to feel almost back to front. Pink wines cover a spectrum of flavours and styles as broad as white. You’ve got your sweet, unctuous rosés at one end and your crisp, dry Provence-style pinks at the other. In either case, refreshment is essential for rosé, so balancing sweetness and dryness should be the aim. The sweeter the rosé, the cooler you want to go. This will keep it from feeling flabby or overly syrupy. For dry rosé, temperatures approaching those of richer white wines will unlock all those fruity notes and round out the acidity.
Fridge guide: chill a sweeter rosé for a little over an hour before serving; take a dry rosé out 30 minutes before serving.
Richer whites: 10-14ºC
The easiest way to ruin a very nice bottle of Hunter Valley semillon or a lovely oaked chardonnay is to serve it too cold. Richer white wines are famous for their complexity and multi-layered flavours and aromas – things that seemingly go missing entirely at colder temperatures. Another tip with wines of this style is to skip the ice bucket. Plonk your bottle on the table to fully experience its unfurling flavours as it rises to temperature.
Fridge guide: take it out 30 minutes before serving.
Lighter reds: 12-15ºC
Red wines such as pinot noir, sangiovese or a nice rustic grenache can be at their best with a slight chill on them. These light and bright varieties are emboldened by their crisp acidity and fruit-driven nuance, which is only elevated when served slightly cool. Serve them too cold, however, and you risk stifling all their deep, earthy flavours. Give them half an hour in the fridge before serving, and a slight pause in the glass prior to your first sip.
Fridge guide: chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Richer reds: 15-18ºC
The advice to serve big and bold reds at room temperature is almost single-handedly responsible for the diminishing return on investment into varieties like shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. Room temperature, you see, isn’t exactly a set number. While it might represent the ideal serving temperature in somewhere like Bordeaux, Australia’s average room temperature typically sits above 20ºC – way too warm for wine. A short stint in the fridge will lock in freshness, and restore balance and finesse to your full-bodied reds.
Fridge guide: chill for 15 minutes before serving
Reference: https://www.danmurphys.com.au/dans-daily/learn/what-temperature-should-my-wine-be