White Wine at
Room Temperature?

From the December 1997 Issue of the Wine Editorial

White wine must be served iced! - or should it?

I never asked that question until a few years ago when I realized that the white wines we tasted on a Saturday, left in a bucket of ice became so cold they had no taste. So we stopped using ice. Then it dawned on me that those room-temperature whites taste better, so I've been drinking whites barely chilled or not chilled at all, unless they are summer wines or Rosés.

Truth is you can sell mediocre white wine like hot cakes if you chill the heck out of it. No taste at all - just cold.

I decided to see what Hugh Johnson had to say on the subject. Well, his theory is that the lighter and more volatile the flavor components are the colder the wine should be served - he even suggests that red wines be served at 65 degrees F. I am inclined to disagree.

More interestingly, he has a very complicated chart that suggests quite narrow temperature ranges for each of a host of wines.

How about impressing your next dinner guests? Commit the chart to memory, buy a thermometer and check the temperature of the wine before you serve it!!!!! - and of course check regularly during the meal just to be sure that it hasn't deviated from the "correct" temperature. More importantly you have found another way of discouraging the plebs from encroaching on hallowed ground.

I will do some more research in the literature, but I urge you all to do some independent experimentation and please let me know your findings. We'll publish the results in the next Wine Editorial.