Summer Chillin'

With summer in full swing, it's easy to find yourself pouring wine that is either too cold or too warm. Just as the right glass will enhance your wine experience, serving wine at the ideal temperature is equally as important. When it comes to knowing what temperature to serve a wine follow this easy to remember tip - twenty minutes before serving, take the white wine out of the fridge, and put the red wine in. This rule is intended to fix the two most common mistakes in wine service; serving white wines too cold and red wines too warm.

Now, this is not something to lose sleep over, but the fact is that properly chilled wines do taste noticeably better. Serving wine at its proper temperature enables you to taste the wine at its full potential. Most of the enjoyment that comes from drinking wine involves its aroma. Taste only has four aspects - sweet, sour, salty, acid. The nose does the rest. Vapors are created as wine warms up, so the wine needs to be a few degrees below its ideal drinking temperature for you to enjoy it at its finest. To be confident the wine you serve will be on its best behavior know the whole story.

Red, Red Wine
If you've heard the old adage that red wines need to be served at "room temperature" don't forget that "room temperature" can be considerably higher in the summer. Most red wines are at their best at cool room temperature, 62 to 65 degrees fahrenheit. Light reds benefit from being served slightly cooler than full bodied reds. Keep reds too warm and they will taste alcoholic and even vinegary. Too cold and they will have an overly tannic bite and much less flavor.

Refreshing Whites
Just as many reds are served too warm, most white wines are definitely served too cold. Fine white wines are best between 58 and 62 degrees. Simpler, inexpensive, easy drinking type white wines are best served colder between 50 and 55 degrees. Chilling white wines properly preserve their freshness but too cold and they will be nearly tasteless. White wines served too warm will taste alcoholic and flabby.

Bubbling Beauties
Sparkling wines should start out totally chilled and are best served between 40-45 degrees. Put them in the refrigerator an hour and half before serving or in an ice bucket with water for at least 20 minutes before serving. For vintage-dated Champagne and other high-quality bubbly, you should let the bottle warm up a bit if you don't want to miss out on the mature character for which you’re probably paying extra. Wine will not stay at a constant temperature once it's out of the fridge so keep an ice bucket handy or put the bottle back in the refrigerator between pourings. You needn't become a maniac with a thermometer to get wine to the right temperature range; a little experience and a little tasting, and the wine itself will tell you everything you need to know. So chill this summer and enjoy a perfectly chilled glass of wine.