Wine Serving Temperatures

Let’s look at what the best temperature is for serving your wines. Most of the white wines are chilled and red wines are served closer to room temperature. But this rule of thumb often leave white wines being served at near freezing temperatures straight from the refrigerator, or red wines reaching the table at temperatures far removed from the cellar temperature best suited to these wines.

Take care not to over-refrigerate your white wines because it can dull their flavors. The light, sweet, and acidic wines should be served at round about 44-46 degrees F (10C). Good Alsace, Chardonnays and Semillons can be served in the range of 46-50 degrees.

This normally means before serving a white wine to put it on the door of your refrigerator for a 1 to 2 hours at most. Do not store them in the fridge and don't chill them so cold that the only flavor that remains is sweet. As the wine warms in your glass you will notice the “aroma” really blossoming as the esters in the wine become volatile.

Red wines are best served at a temperature that is a bit cooler than the temperature of the home. Often red wines are served at temperatures too warm under the mistaken impression they should be serve at room temperature. While this may have been true before central heating kept every house toasty all winter long, today it is recommended wines be stored somewhere in a temperature range of 56-64 degrees.

There are certain types of red wine that benefit from being slightly cooler. These include your lighter, fruitier reds, but ultimately test your wine at different temperatures and keep track and take note of what works for each variety and vintage of wines you have.

These are some of the basic guidelines on ideal serving temperatures. As long as there are no extremes and the flavor of the wine itself is not being influenced, then let your personal preference play a role in the serving temperature decision.

If you still feel unsure, serve the wine slightly cooler, thus allowing you to let it warm in the glass if it seems a little "flat". It is not easy to cool a wine that is too warm in the glass, and often it will too late to even try as the volatile esters will be quickly lost.