Which are the best temperatures in serving wine?

Unless you’re a wine expert it can be hard to know exactly which are the best temperatures in serving wine. The truth is that this is a really important part of the wine drinking process – you can spoil a wine or make it taste sublime by serving it at the right temperature. So which are the best temperatures in serving wine?

In very general terms most people will serve a red wine at room temperature and they will chill a white wine. Bear in mind, however, that a white that is too chilled may lose taste and a red that is too warm may taste too heavy. So, although you can use this as a general yardstick you can also play around with the best temperatures in serving wine to make the most of your drink according to your tastes and preferences.

For example, you might want to chill a nice bottle of red for 15 minutes or so before you open it to let it breathe. This is a good tip if it’s really hot and a lot of people like doing this as they don’t want to drink their wine too warm. The key thing to remember with room temperature with a bottle of red wine is that the room temperature itself shouldn’t be too hot – if it is then a quick chill will put things to rights. This way you’ll get a bit of an edge without too much of a chill. And, you also need to be careful with white wine – if you chill these wines too much then it’s possible that they won’t taste so good.

The key thing to remember in technical terms is that a wine that is too warm or too cold just won’t taste as good as it should. So, if you really want to make the best of a bottle then it is worth thinking about the best temperatures in serving wine before you need to serve them!

To get the best results, take a look at our best temperatures in serving wine guide below:

Red:                               10-18 °C

White:                             5-10 °C

Rose:                              7-13 °C

Champagne/Sparkling:        6-11 °C

If you are worried that you may be chilling wines for too long then remember it’s easy to take the edge off by taking them out of the cooler/refrigerator a while before you need them so they’ll warm up a bit.

Do remember, however, that the best temperature in serving wine isn’t just about using the guidelines we’ve given you – it’s also about personal taste. It doesn’t matter if we tell you that room temperature red wine is the best – if you like it chilled then drink it chilled! Remember, the more you experiment, the more likely you are to get it just right!