At what temperature do you serve wine?

You serve a white wine cold and a red at room temperature. But just like everything in life, it is not so black and white. The temperature of a wine influences to what extent a wine really comes into its own. And not every wine is the same. On the spectrum 'cold' - 'warm' you will have to find the ideal temperature for that one wine. But what is the ideal temperature?

Too cold dulls the aromas in a wine, but can be preferable when a wine is of poor quality (then you taste it less well). When you taste a wine that is too cold, you experience a tight mouthfeel, especially the fresh acids manifest themselves, the fruit disappears into the background and the wine comes across as 'light', almost thin.

At what temperature do you serve sparkling wines and dessert wines?

A well-chilled wine, between 6-8°C, brings out the acids of a wine in a lively way. Especially for sweet wines and sparkling wines, this is a good temperature to maintain the balance. At too high temperatures, the sweetness dominates in sweet wines, making a wine feel sticky; bubbles become less enthusiastic, actually a bit weak. If you have a very special sparkling wine, add a few degrees. The complex aromas and flavours will be more prominent.

At what temperature do you serve white wines?

Light, still wines, whose juicy acids are characteristic, do well between 8-14°C. If the wine is not only made on the fruit, but is fuller in flavour and feel due to, for example, wood aging or maturation, then tend more towards 12-14°C to give the little bit of complexity and body some space.

So the fridge is actually too cold for wine!

As you will understand, the fridge, with a temperature of about 3-6°C, is actually too cold for sparkling, sweet and white wines. It can do no harm to store the wine at this temperature for a few days, but it is too cold to serve it. Fortunately, a bottle in the living room warms up quickly, especially once it has been poured. At a tasting, you can take the white wines out of the fridge fifteen minutes before serving to serve them at the right temperature.

At what temperature do you serve red wines?

For red wines that are quite soft and light in character, 12-17°C is fine. The lighter the wine, the cooler; the fruitier, the warmer. Chilling a wine in the fridge for half an hour before serving is sufficient.

Powerful red wines have a lot of flavour, aromas and sometimes also a higher alcohol percentage. Room temperature, between 17-19°C is perfect. Note: the term 'room temperature' was invented a century ago, when our living rooms were not yet heated as warmly as they are today!

The balance is shared by fresh tones, the palette of aromas and flavours and a full mouthfeel. Lower temperatures harden the tannins. But temperatures that are too high can make a wine sluggish and heavy. In addition, the alcohol in wines with a high percentage will reveal itself in an unpleasant, 'warm' way.

Keeping a glass of wine at the same, perfect temperature throughout drinking is quite ambitious. But it is still better to serve a wine a little too cool than too warm. Warming the glass in your hands always adds a few degrees.