Bottle Chiller
So you have bought yourself or received as a gift a wine bottle chiller. To get the best use out of it, it is helpful to keep in mind the ideal serving temperature of wine. Served at the correct temperature, your wine will taste its best, look its best, and smell its best, and why would you settle for less?
Each wine is different, and will subsequently have its own unique ideal serving temperature. For example, if you like red wines, serving them too cold usually makes them taste too sharp, and even bitter. Although they are stereo typed as a “warm” wine, serving them too warm will make them taste dull. And yes, white wines are generally meant to be served cold, but if too cold, much of the taste will be lost.
We’ve provided a reference guide below. Print or bookmark this page so that you can quickly reference the ideal serving temperatures for the most common types of wines, and a few tidbits of other important information.
First keep in mind, however, that the ideal storing temperature for all wines is 55 degrees F / 13 degrees C. So if you are aging your wine, set your chiller or cooler to this temperature. When it is ready for consumption, adjust the temperature as followed.
Red Ports – 66 degrees F / 19 degrees C.
Bordeaux and Shiraz – 64 degrees F / 18 degrees C.
Red Burgundy, Cabernet, and Merlot – 63 degrees F / 18 degrees C.
Pinoi Noir and Rioja – 61 degrees F / 16 degrees C.
Zinfandel and Chianti – 59 degrees F / 15 degrees C
Madeira – 57 degrees F / 14 degrees C
Rose and Beaujolais – 54 degrees F / 12 degrees C
Sauternes and Viognier – 52 degrees F / 11 degrees C
Chardonnay – 48 degrees F / 9 degrees C
Riesling – 47 degrees F / 8 degrees C
Champagne – 45 degrees F / 7 degrees C
If you prefer a simpler method of chilling wine, you can do what many of our readers do. That is, chill wines using a 45 / 55 / 65 degrees principal. This means that whites usually taste fine when you serve them at 45 degrees F. Rose and light red wines usually taste fine when served at 55 degrees F. Darker red wines usually taste fine when served at 65 degrees F.
Keep in mind that the temperature settings that we have discussed so far assume that you are immediately consuming the wine. But more often is the likelihood that we leave our wine out, as we finish our meals, or to what many refer to as “letting it breathe,” so that it can mix with the air and release the aromas for better taste. During this breathing period, chilled wine, like any other cold object, will warm in the surrounding room temperature. The rate at which wine will warm depends on a number of factors such as the type of wine and the surrounding room temperature, but it is usually 2-3 degrees per hour. So, if you plan to serve wine in one hour’s time, make sure that you wine has been chilled 2-3 degrees below its recommended serving temperature before you let it sit outside.
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