How Cold is your Red

[Gabe_Berk]

Starts at 60. Ends higher than that of course…

[Jon_Lawrence]

Starts at 65, gets to room temperature by the time it is done.

[Joseph_Grassa]

Generally I am drinking in my living room or dinning room where the temperature stays at 69, so normally I am pouring the first glass at just over 62 and I don’t worry about the wine slowly warming up. Occasionally if it is a young vibrant red, I will pour the first glass in the high 50s, and monitor it as it warms up. Last weekend a 2016 Ar.Pe.Pe Il Pettirosso ended up in the fridge for a bit to pour a glass in the low 50s. As it opened up it was still probably best in the low to mid 60s imo.

If I am outside, I generally just try to pour a little colder to compensate for how much faster the temp will rise.

[Alan_Rath]

I just say “cool-ish room temp”, so maybe 65-70.

Just opened a Rose around that temp and off the charts good. Chilled it to the recommended temp of about 55 and not very good. Don’t think there really is any exact rules but your own experiences and likes.

Yeah, I drink almost all my wines, red and white, at the same temp. Most whites are terrible at fridge, or even cold cellar temp, much better in the mid 60s.

[John_Glas]

I just say “cool-ish room temp”, so maybe 65-70.

Just opened a Rose around that temp and off the charts good. Chilled it to the recommended temp of about 55 and not very good. Don’t think there really is any exact rules but your own experiences and likes.

Yeah, I drink almost all my wines, red and white, at the same temp. Most whites are terrible at fridge, or even cold cellar temp, much better in the mid 60s.

My friend is always talking about the ice cold Coor’s Light theory. Cheap beer or wine super cold you can’t taste the flaws. Warm it up and then we know how good it really is.

[Otto_Forsberg]

Don’t think there really is any exact rules but your own experiences and likes.

Except that wine should always be followed over three days?

I prefer to drink my reds quite cool. Many reds I actually put in fridge well ahead and pop them out 20-30 min before drinking them. Especially the lighter reds (wines that I mostly drink at home) almost universally get this treatment.

Room temp is way too warm for me, cellar temp pretty good.

[Joe_V1]

I love pulling reds out of the storage unit and getting that 1st sip at 55 degrees. Probably hits the super expressive nose around the mid sixties. Yeah, that’s pretty good for me.

[John_Glas]

Don’t think there really is any exact rules but your own experiences and likes.

Except that wine should always be followed over three days?

I prefer to drink my reds quite cool. Many reds I actually put in fridge well ahead and pop them out 20-30 min before drinking them. Especially the lighter reds (wines that I mostly drink at home) almost universally get this treatment.

Room temp is way too warm for me, cellar temp pretty good.

I do chill my Pinots more than any other reds I drink but going to start doing more of the 3 temp reviews! Stayed tuned.

[Adam_Frisch]

I like André Mack’s 20/20 rule:

Take white out from fridge and let it sit 20min room temp.
Put room temp red in fridge for 20 min.

[Bill_Johnson]

61-65; pinots a bit cooler than other reds we drink.

[Peter_Chiu]

61-65; pinots a bit cooler than other reds we drink.

Best answer and I agree.

[Rich_K0rz_nk0]

Starts at 65, gets to room temperature by the time it is done.

This

Whatever length I feel the need to decant to and then figuring in bringing it to around this temp during that process. Hits full bloom for me.

[Thomas_Keim]

We pour 7-8 reds by the glass at our pub, and it’s always funny when someone asks “why we chill our red wines”.
I always tell them, “We start our reds at 55 degrees, and if you like it a bit warmer, just wait a few minutes…”

My cellar at the house is in an old root cellar, nice and dark and cool, but with today’s weather, we still see a fluctuation of temperatures. So when I pull a bottle and pop the cork, I usually put it into the fridge if it’s a hot day in the summer (my significant other likes her reds very cool) to bring it down another 5-10 degrees or so.

[Stan_Y]

Even though this feels like I’m asking for my beef well-done, I generally prefer my reds a bit closer to room temperature than to cellar temperature. If cellar temp is 55 and room temp is 70, then maybe 65-68 degrees.

[Tom_G_l_a_s_g_o_w]

In winter, I’ll use a heftier decanter for reds to raise the temp a bit. I like under 70 F for all drinks, wine, cognac, etc.

[brodie_thomson]

Prefer most reds around 17-18 deg C

[John_Glas]

I like André Mack’s 20/20 rule:

Take white out from fridge and let it sit 20min room temp.
Put room temp red in fridge for 20 min.

Not a bad rule at all!

[Robert.A.Jr]

Don’t think there really is any exact rules but your own experiences and likes.

Except that wine should always be followed over three days?

I prefer to drink my reds quite cool. Many reds I actually put in fridge well ahead and pop them out 20-30 min before drinking them. Especially the lighter reds (wines that I mostly drink at home) almost universally get this treatment.

Room temp is way too warm for me, cellar temp pretty good.

This 100%.

Temperature is probably my biggest issue with wine enjoyment. Far important to me than stems. Most restaurants fail miserably in this regard. I had a mature Chateauneuf last night that started in the 70s, making it diffuse and a little spiky hot. Once we dipped it into the ice bucket for a bit, dramatic improvement.

I’d go so far to say I’d rather have a decent wine at the right temperature than a great wine at the wrong temperature.

[Dan_Kravitz]

Robert.A.Jr.,

I am with you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a restaurant bring an ice bucket for a 78 degree red, often explaining in words of one syllable to the ingnoramuses giggling at the next table.

I have a friend who knows the exact correct serving temperature for every fine wine: 64 degrees. Can’t say I disagree, although I’ll quibble, especially about Rose and Champagne.

Actually, I am open to much more variation than that. I’ve often written on this board that I match wines to weather as much as to food. Midwinter, I’ll almost tolerate 70 degrees for a Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Midsummer, I’m happy with a good (not great) red, like the Silver Mountain which started the thread, as low as 50 - 60 degrees. But I’m not opening great, or big, red wine when it’s that hot out.

Dan Kravitz

[dougwilder]

During sampling in the summer, I keep a cold water bucket with a freezer pack next to my desk, mainly for whites. It isn’t uncommon to drop a Gamay, Pinot Noir or Chinon-styled Cabernet Franc to give them a chill down to about 48-50. Once out of the water, they gradually warm up to a ‘sweet spot’. I just did that with Jason Drew’s 2020 Pinot Noir Cote Foret - 12.2%ABV. 96 points. Justin Willett’s Lieu Dit Cabernet Franc is another I love to chill a bit.