Brief intro - I’m based in Dublin, Ireland and have done a full on deep dive into wine over the past two years and am totally hooked. Burgundy has so far intrigued me the most and I made it to La Paulee this past spring which was a total blast.
I wanted to rant about the biggest pet peeve about wine that I’ve developed so far and am curious if others agree or how they deal with it or if I’m just a total lunatic. I’m just going to do a stream of consciousness styled numbered rant of comments and questions and feel free to respond to any of them.
Rant - Red wine is far too frequently served and drank too warm! (I’ll stick to red burgundy to keep the temperature # discussion easier but I really think the problem applies to even bigger reds which some might prefer served a bit warmer)
Going to assume room temperature is 72F
I prefer red burgundy served at ~~55F and enjoy it the best around 60F. I think wine should always be served a bit cooler than your preferred drinking temperature as the wine in your glass will warm faster than the remaining wine in the bottle and you can enjoy most of your wine at a reasonable temperature.
The overwhelming majority of “sommeliers” seem totally clueless about this. Maybe it’s different back in the US, but the majority of them here will generally just serve you a red wine at room temperature (which is often far warmer than 72F in the summer) and give you a confused look when you ask for an ice bath (I once had sommelier indicate to me that the wine I ordered was a red wine). Even the ones who understand red wine should be served cooler than room temperature often have the wine fridges at nice restaurants set to 64-66F for the red section which means it already is or will be past the point of no return by the time it’s even poured. I once had a Gamay served by the sommelier at around 75-76F at a tasting menu/wine pairing style meal.
Anyone who brings up this 20/20 (put red wine in the fridge for 20 min before serving) rule for serving temperature needs some educating. I see this a lot from popular wine personalities on youtube who really ought to know better! Depending on the thickness of your bottle, it will take closer to 75-120 minutes to get your red to a reasonable serving temperature -
I’m curious about some of these fancy wine dinners like the La Paulee events or some of these crazy DRC dinners. Do they temperature control the reds well or do they get warmer than 64F quite quickly and most just don’t mind this?
How about wine tourism? I had a great time tasting in Burgundy in the spring but that’s obviously made easier because you’re often tasting in a cool space. I’m going to Tuscany this fall and planning to visit Mazzei and Antinori…should I be bracing to myself for the likelihood of being poured warm red wine?
Am I just a total lunatic and are all of you are enjoying your red burgundy at 68-70F?
I typically like burgundy to be served somewhere in the mid 60s; typically I’ll bring something from the cellar and keep it an insulated bag and it’ll typically be a good temperature to serve by the time we get to the restaurant.
I agree wholeheartedly with #1 and #3. I utilize one of these ( Oggi Wine Cooler with Freezer Inserts, recommended by others here) for while I am drinking the wine, to keep the bottle temp (and wine) cooler:
First of all: Welcome and an interesting first post.
Secondly: Using Fahrenheit in Ireland??? Seriously??? I thought you would have access to more modern measurement systems and tools in such a developed part of the world
Generally, I agree that red wine is often served and drunk too warm. I find this makes a massive difference for some wines (e.g. Rayas & Beaucastel CNdPs, some Spanish wines but not all). More specifically for Burgundy I would tend to serve it at home somewhere between cellar temp and room temp. But I think some Burgundy is more to my taste cooler (e.g. Hudelot Noellat Malconsorts) and some a bit warmer (e.g. Bachelet Charmes). So yes, a general rule that it shouldn’t be at 22+ Celsius, but no single “right” temperature from my perspective.
Definitely agree. 20-30 min in the fridge is not nearly long enough to do much of anything. If I have a room temp red, I will put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and that brings it down to cellar temp. Just don’t forget about the bottle because I’ve done that before lol.
Those of us in hot climates simply do the opposite - put it outside the kitchen door for a bit. 10 min of a hot TX evening does a good job bringing cellar temp refs to a pleasant low-mid 60s service temp…
Put it on the bottle, throw it in the fridge, and it cools down very quickly with no risk of freezing. Then if it will be more than a few of hours before we drink the bottle, I’ll put one of the small ice packs from Astrea caviar shipments in the wine bag slot with the bottle. If it will be less than that, I have a couple of flexible ice packs from Kroger that are filled with water so they thaw faster than the gel ice packs but are still good to keep an already cold bottle cold for at least a couple of hours.
and an interesting first post.