The Serving Temperature Can Dramatically Affect the Way a Wine Tastes

Wine should be fun and enjoyable. And, my motto on EverWonderWine.com is 'Drink what you like.' So, I try to keep things simple and make your wine experience more enjoyable.  And while the temperature of the wine you drink may seem unimportant, or even a bit snobbish to talk about, it really can affect your wine experience.

The bottom line is that the temperature at which a wine is served matters.  And here's why.  The 'proper' serving temperature will ensure that you get the best experience from your wine.  Serve it too cold or too warm and you can loose a lot of the wine's character.

This is partly due to your nose and how a wine's aroma works along with its taste. And, aroma is greatly affected by the wine's temperature.  A cold wine will have less of an aroma because fewer of the volatile compounds will be released from the wine. Conversely, a warmer wine will easily release these compounds and give you an opportunity to experience the wine's full aroma.

Then there's the way a wine tastes.  Serving a white wine too cold will mute its fruit flavors. White wines taste good when they are served cool because of their acidity and negligible tannin. The fruit flavors are zippy and bright and a bit of a chill will enhance this.  But full bodied white wines that have been aged in oak (e.g., Chardonnay) are best served not quite so cool to allow you experience the buttery and vanilla flavors that oak imparts.

Serving a red wine too cold will emphasize its acidity, bitterness and tannin.   But serving a red wine at room temperature is a bit too warm and can make it seem heavy, lifeless and emphasize the alcohol, yielding a burning sensation in your throat.

So, here are some general guidelines for the 'proper' serving temperatures of wines:

• Sparkling Wine: 42° - 50° F

• Light Whites: 46° - 54° F

• Full Bodied Whites: 54° - 60° F

• Rosé: 45° - 55° F

• Light Reds: 50° - 54° F

• Medium Reds: 57° - 63° F

• Full Bodied Reds: 59° - 65° F

And while most people don't have specialized multi-zone wine refrigerators to precisely control their wine temperatures, or take the time to use a fancy wine thermometer, here are a couple quick rules-of-thumb.  Sparkling wine can be stored and served directly from a kitchen refrigerator. With white wine, place it in your kitchen refrigerator 30-60 minutes before serving. Or, if it's been stored in a kitchen refrigerator, remove it 30 minutes before serving.  For red wines, put them in a kitchen refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving. This way, your white wines will be cool but not cold and your reds will be slightly cooled and not too warm.

If you really like your red and white wines at kitchen refrigerator temperatures or your red wines at room temperature, go ahead and continue enjoying them. But at some point, give these temperature suggestions a try. Who knows, you might find that your favorite wines are even better at the recommended temperatures. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay ($12)

This Chardonnay out of Livermore Valley California (East of San Francisco) is a well balanced Chardonnay, meaning that everything works together beautifully. Because it is fermented in 50% neutral American oak barrels and 50% in stainless steel tanks it retains its great fruit flavors with just a hint of vanilla. While having a creamy mouth feel its the fresh fruit character that really comes through. Enjoy this one with a light white fish, pork, chicken or a selection of mild white cheeses.

Looking for a Sweet Champagne Can Be a Bit Confusing

Champagne is a great drink. It's most often consumed in times of celebration. Champagne and joy naturally go together. But "Champagne" is often misunderstood. And splurging on a $100 bottle may result in disappointment.

First, let's take a step back. Champagne is a sparkling wine that is produced in the relatively small region of Champagne in France. Only those sparkling wines produced in this region are allowed to be labeled as 'Champagne.' 

There are also multiple styles of Champagne produced. It is most common to find Brut, Dry and Extra Dry Champagnes on store shelves.  These styles have a direct correlation with the amount of residual sugar (RS) in them. For those seeking a sweet Champagne, you're going to want to look for 'Dry' Champagne. This is a bit confusing since a dry wine typically has little or no residual sugar and will have no sweetness to it. But, in Champagnes, 'Dry' means that there can be 17% to 35% RS and be quite sweet on your tongue.

Here are all the styles of Champagne that are produced:

• Extra Brut: 0-6% RS

• Brut: 0-15% RS

• Extra Dry: 12-20% RS

• Dry: 17-35% RS

• Demi Sec: 35-50% RS

• Doux: Greater than 50% RS

So if you are looking for a sweet Champagne, look for the 'Dry,' 'Demi Sec,' or 'Doux' designations on the label.

Here's to raising a glass of Champagne at your next joyous occasion. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

2014 Old Zin Vines Zinfandel ($12)

This Zinfandel from Lodi comes from 50 to 100 year old vines. And it's a big jammy Zinfandel. Loaded with flavors of blackberries, raspberries, chocolate and mocha, it's smooth with very soft tannin. This is a great value that goes well with anything from a great burger, pizza, BBQ ribs or a steak. If you like Zinfandel, you'll love this one!

 

How to Deal with the Rituals of Ordering a Bottle of Wine

Have you ever just ordered glasses of wine at a restaurant to avoid having to deal with the whole process involved in buying a bottle? It can seem a bit intimidating at first. Dealing with your server for a glass of wine seems to be a lot more expedient.  But ordering a bottle of wine isn't hard if you become comfortable with rituals involved.

First, ordering a bottle can be a great value. A standard 750 ml bottle of wine will yield approximately five to six glasses of wine. This is usually less expensive than ordering five or six individual glasses of wine at your table.  So take a deep breath, order a bottle and you'll quickly learn to deal with the rituals.

Once you've chosen your bottle of wine your server should bring the unopened bottle to your table and present you with the bottle, showing you the label.  This is simply done to ensure they have brought the correct bottle that you ordered. You simply need to take a quick look at the label and then let your server know "That's correct" or "That looks good!"

Next, your server will take out a corkscrew, remove the foil capsule covering the cork, and extract the cork.  Your server will typically place the cork in front of you.  You don't need to smell the cork. But you should do a quick inspection of it. Look to see if there is any evidence of the wine having leaked up any of the sides. This should be obvious for either a white or red wine. A small amount of seepage up the side of the cork is normal in a bottle of wine that has spent some time on its side.  You just don't want to see the entire cork soaked or soggy. And don't be afraid to ask your server about any thing that looks unusual.

Next, your server will pour a small taste for the person who ordered the wine. This is not meant to be your opportunity to sample a bunch of wines before you find the right one. The small taste is simply meant to allow you to confirm that the bottle that you order has not gone bad. And, again, you'll immediately know. If you smell strong obnoxious odors of wet cardboard or the smell of a wet dog, the wine has gone bad. But, assuming the wine is fine, simply let your server know that it's fine.  They will then pour the wine for others at the table and return to pour your glass. Oh, and remember, a properly poured glass of wine is about one-third full, not to the rim.

The bottle will then be left on the table. If you are drinking a bottle of sparkling wine, the server may provide an ice bucket or you may request one. A good server will keep watch on your table and ensure that everyone's glass remains full and offer to bring another bottle, if necessary. But feel free to pick up the bottle and pour more for those at the table and yourself.

And that's it.  It's really quite simple. A wine server should be there to aid you in the process, not make it difficult or intimidating.  Here's to your next bottle. Cheers!