Best way to bring red wine to correct drinking temp?

[MitchT]

I've been to Oddbins this morning and stocked-up on some really nice French reds. To do justice to these wines and the effort I made earning the money that I've spent on them, and to ensure the best possible drinking experience, I want to ensure that they are at the correct temperature when I drink them. The house that I live in is generally cold, so what should I do with the wines, and at what point prior to drinking, to heat them up?

At the moment I put a bottle of wine in a waterproof bag and then submerge it, standing upright (so it can be open to breathe) in a large, tall container of warm water. Will this do the trick (if so what temperature should the water be?) or should I use a more sophisticated method?

[jimothy]

Red should be between 16 - 18 degrees, so no need to warm them unless your house is freezing

[MitchT]

The house is generally 18 degrees but the wine is noticeably cold, so much so that if I don't heat it a bit that I really don't get the aroma and flavour from it. Using the method I've described I have much-improved the experience that I get drinking the wine, but I wondered if there was an optimum method.

[scott.s]

One thing you should look at is a good wine decanter, i got mine in Reims on a shampoo buying trip.
It realy makes old world wines and new world wines seem better.

i'm no expert but as i understand it the wide bottom get's more air to the wine.

[Noger]

I would say in general reds are served too warm, and whites too cool.

A very young Beaujolais could happily be served as cool as a 12 year old Montrachet - about 12ºC. And in the South of France Rosé with ice is popular. So there are no hard and fast rules and it is all about what you like, not what "wine ponces" say

Even with a full bodied red anything more than about 17-18ºC is probably too warm, what you end up doing is releasing more alcohol molecules than flavour ones, so whilst you get more "taste" it isn't necessarily a good taste. Which is why you chill vodka, akavit etc, so you don't just taste the alcohol.

Through trial and error I have a few areas of the kitchen that get red wines to just about the right temperature. Although I agree with the above, decanting into a wide based decanter can help warm up a red straight from a chilly garage. More surface area in contact with warmer air.

[navier_stokes]

If you really want to drink the wine "accordingly" then it very much depends on the type of Red it is.

Haven't got it to hand but the Hugh Johnson Wine Atlas has a nice chart giving you a rough idea.

Basically, the "better"/"older" the wine, the higher the temperature you serve it at... eg. the very best Bordeaux's etc are served at ~18 C, down to younger (as mentioned) beajoulais and things like Cab Francs from the Loire are supposed to be served slightly chilled.

Drinking wine overly chilled can hide its flaws or supress its greatness depending on the wine though.

But at the end of the day, IMO it doesen't really matter... drink up

[jessica]

stand it in the sunshine for an hour, in winter place on the hearth next to the fire.
if desperate place by the glass in the microwave 15 secs ish.

[Noger]

navier_stokes said:

Drinking wine overly chilled can hide its flaws or supress its greatness depending on the wine though.

Depends on what you are trying to hide/bring out.

Sweetness increases with temperature, so perhaps a wonderful QmP Auslese or Spätlese would taste far too sweet warm. However tannins increase with lower temperature, so whilst a low tannin Beaujolais might be rather nice on a warm day, an oaked new world Cab Sauv will taste like you are chewing a twig. Acidity varies with temerature as well. As does fizzyness, having stuck far too many bottles of fizz in the freezer for too long, I am well aware than you can render the poor thing almost flat

Depending on your preference for sweetness, acidity and tannins (as well as everything else) warmer or cooler may not suit.

[Zod]

temperature of wine is personal choice. In summer, I sometimes chill slightly even top reds to avoid soupiness. I drink top level white burgundy with just the slightest chill as dry whites lose flavour as teh temperature drops.

[Jock Strap]

I once heard that you should slightly chill red wine in the fridge before drinkng. IIRC it's because room temperatures used to be cooler than they are now with central heating etc.. Is this true?

[condor]

Best way is to use the heat from your hands to warm the wine up in the glass

[Adam_BGT]

if too cold, try standing the bottle in some warm water prior to opening

[MitchT]

Adam_BGT said:

if too cold, try standing the bottle in some warm water prior to opening

That's what I was doing - I have a very deep container that enables me to get the bottle fully submerged. I put the bottle in a freezer bag first to stop it getting wet or any water getting into the bottle as I open it first. That works well for me and gets it to the temperature that I want it at - My purpose in starting the thread was to see if there was an 'official' way of doing it. I know what temperature works best for me personally, I just wondered if there was a specific way that I was supposed to go about getting it up to that temperature.

[willyworm]

I asked this question in a restaurant and they told me to "put the bottle in a jug and fill the jug with hot water from the tap". It works, it is better to use a tall jug (I use a 2 pint plastic measuring jug 6.5" tall), the bigger the jug the more heat will be transferd to the wine, so keep an eye on it and try it on some cheaper wine first.

[parapaul]

Jock Strap said:

I once heard that you should slightly chill red wine in the fridge before drinkng. IIRC it's because room temperatures used to be cooler than they are now with central heating etc.. Is this true?

I heard that too - landlord in a pub I used to work in always put an ice cube in his glass of red wine.

[bint]

Jock Strap said:

I once heard that you should slightly chill red wine in the fridge before drinkng. IIRC it's because room temperatures used to be cooler than they are now with central heating etc.. Is this true?

No idea but Brown Brothers do a red that is best drunk chilled and it's mighty fine :P

[absolutely]

Open it, let it breathe for half an hour or so, leave it to come to room temperature, then drink, copious amounts preferably.

[Noger]

Tarrango ? Yes, that is lovely stuff.

If your wines are kept indoors they are likely to be > 18 degrees, so a brief spell in the fridge does help.

[dbroughton]

In my ignorant youth I have microwave red wine and cooked it on a radiator.

I am now a wine geek with a little fridge at 13 Deg C and like my red wine cool (18 Deg C) I find a lot of new world reds tend to taste one dimensional and overwhelmed by the fruit and alcohol if drank at modern room temp (25 Deg)

[bint]

Noger said:

Tarrango ? Yes, that is lovely stuff.

That's the stuff - comes with a useful peelable sticker to put on the fridge to remind you what it is..........