. Vite Vinifera De Vino's Blog: The Right Temperature

Friday, November 17, 2006

The Right Temperature


Nothing better than a cold glass of white wine on a hot summer day. The question is how cold the wine should be in order to be enjoyed to the fullest.

I believe the answer will vary depending on the kind of wine you are about to drink.

Generally speaking, simpler whites need to be colder; more complex ones might be better slightly warmer.

The temperature will affect the acidity, the alcohol and the bouquet; higher temperature will enchant the bouquet but also make the alcohol more present; so a lower quality wine will benefit of a colder temperature because the acidity will give a refreshing sensation distracting your palate from possible faults the wine might have; on the other hand a better wine will be underappreciated if the bouquet is limited by the acidity.

In order, then, to decide the right temperature that the wine has to be served you need to know the characteristic of it.

For example I would never freeze a wine unless I’m in Jamaica and I’m drinking the wine under the hot sun overlooking crystal clear waters and the outside temperature is 100 degrees.

The crystal clear water will already give me a strong emotion and the wine will then have to just act as a refreshing beverage that will put me in a good mood.

And…

…I actually did do this.

The wine that I was drinking was a dirt cheap Pinot Grigio that would be awful to drink at a normal temperature.

In order to really understand how temperature truly affects a wine, here is a great way to understand in a short time – I suggest you try this: 1. Get a bottle of white wine,

inexpensive or to your taste 2. Over chill the wine and then 3. Drinking it a little bit at time, let the bottle go from overchilled to a little too warm.

This allows the wine to speak for itself.

Buona bevuta a tutti

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