I grew up in England in the '60s and '70s, that’s exactly right. At Christmas time we used to put the red near the fireplace for 30 minutes to warm up a bit.
I drink all reds straight from my 60 degree wine storage.
Gerard Potel of Pousse d Or once complained to me that central heating killed his marc sales. Before people would drink a bottle at a dinner party. After central heating became popular, it took three dinner parties to kill one bottle.
Is it really news to anyone that red wines are not great at room temps in the 70s and above? Every introductory book on wine I can think of advises serving reds in the 60s (F).
We keep our house in the 60s in the winter. It is much easier to keep wines at optimal temps then. In the summer our room temps are in the mid to even high 70s. I keep wine from getting too warm by monitoring its temperature with an instant-read infrared thermometer and popping it back in the fridge/ice bucket as needed. We have a few double-walled, thermos-like canisters (pic below) that buffer the temperature/slow the rate of warming between fridge visits.
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I remember staying with friends in the north London suburbs in May 1988 and shivering. I wore socks to bed and underwear under my pajamas. It had changed dramatically by the time I moved there in 1999. I don’t ever recall being cold in anyone’s home in that period. But conditions were better for reds in 1988.
Wines that have had extended maceration tend to do less well chilled, in my opinion. My own orange-ish wine is not showing good at all when chilled, it needs to be drunk pretty much at room temp. Brings out bitterness and astringency there. I think extended maceration reds tend to follow that trait somewhat, but it’s less clear cut there.
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That only makes sense, since skin maceration extracts bitter phenolics (including tannins, duh) from the grapes and chilling the wine down decreases perception of fruit, but not bitterness and can even boost perception of acidity. When the fruit department is toned down, the relative impression of bitterness is at the same time increased, since it suddenly takes a bigger proportion of the total flavor impression of the wine - even though the actual intensity of bitterness stays more or less the same.
The same thing happens with tannins / astringency.
The example that comes to mind is Beaujolais, which usually has enough fruit and soft tannins, so it can be served at a lower temp.
The twist is that, since a lot of wines with long macerations are relatively high in alcohol, getting the right temp for them can be tricky.
Couldn’t agree more. Especially old school Barolo and Barbaresco which are often clocking at 14,5% - even 15% - now can be very difficult. Sagrantino and Ribera del Duero, too.
I prefer to go the same way many others seem to do as well - chill the wine down quite a bit and let the temperature rise slowly. At some point the wine will hit its sweet spot.
Or then it doesn’t; some wines are just built to be unbalanced.
I prefer most reds between 60-65 deg. Sometimes I will put a pinot in the fridge to cool it down to make it more of a poolside wine. But that only works with something light.
We were having lunch on the porch at the Grove Park Inn one time and I ordered a red to go with my burger. It was room temperature, as in the temperature of the porch. I complained to the wait staff and was told ‘red wine is supposed to be served at room temp so it is fine’. I explained what that really meant but was met with a blank stare and a kick under the table from my wife.
Interestingly as I was perusing the Paul Hobbs fall allocation wine tasting notes/sales pitch, I noticed they suggest serving all the reds (both pinots and cabs) at 50-55F. 50F seems awfully chilly for a full bodied red. I wonder if hotter/riper cab is generally more pleasing at a cooler temperature so the alcohol doesn’t stick out?
Wife did some math on July wine spending, so I’m cut off for a while (though I probably would’ve passed anyway at $495/pop)
Cool is better! The article is exactly right. At least if you want to appreciate the structure of the wine and not the alcohol…
50F…sounds more like white wine temp. Perhaps they’re trying to mask more than just the alcohol.
Another interesting discussion - and also one without an ‘objective’ answer.
There is no doubt that if a wine gets ‘too warm’, it may ‘show off’ things that are not as appealing to some, including noticeable alcohol. That said, if a wine is too cold, it will not express itself completely. It therefore is not as simple as ‘every red falls apart at room temperature’ or ‘all reds are best served at 60 degrees’.
The reality is that as a wine ‘opens up’, it tends to happen when it warms up a bit - aromatics are volatile, and to an extent, as a wine warms up, the aromatics expand and become ‘more complex’.
In reading tasting notes, we oftentimes see that the ‘last glass was the best’ or ‘the last glass showed the most complexity’ - and this usually does not happen at cooler temperatures (at least, that is my guess).
I agree that it’s ‘probably best’ to start a wine at cellar temperature and let it warm up some - how much is truly subjective, depending upon the style of wine, the alcohol level, etc.
Cheers.
Absolutely correct. I believe even in 1970 the average room temperature in England during the winter was 52F-53F. I can’t remember the source, but I remember reading that as late as the 1940s/50s it was in the high 40s. And as anyone who has spent a summer in England knows well, May and June aren’t much warmer!
I remember staying with friends in the north London suburbs in May 1988 and shivering. I wore socks to bed and underwear under my pajamas. It had changed dramatically by the time I moved there in 1999. I don’t ever recall being cold in anyone’s home in that period. But conditions were better for reds in 1988.