Don’t Abandon your Favorite Red Wines this Summer. Chill Them!
By Andy Hale, CSW
When we all first learned about wine, there were some very basic rules. Whites go with fish, reds go with steak, Champagne goes with wedding cake, whites are served cold and reds are served “room temperature.” These were the basic laws of the wine drinking universe, and anyone who didn't follow them was obviously an uncultured rube. Because of these laws, I constantly hear people swearing off their favorite reds during the summertime, because they aren’t enjoyable to drink in the heat. Today, I’m going to encourage you to break one of those laws and chill your reds!
What the heck does "Room Temp" mean?
First of all, I take offense to the simplistic view that reds are served warm and whites are served cold. This has led us to chuck our white wines in the fridge like a bunch of celery and leave our reds out on the kitchen counter next to the toaster. My fridge is set to 38 degrees — this is WAY too cold to serve a wine if you plan on tasting anything from it. It will be so cold that you won’t be able to smell or taste much of anything, which is a tragedy unless, of course, you are drinking bad wine.
As for "room temp," what does that even mean? I have my thermostat set at 70 degrees which is too warm to drink red wine, and I know people who have theirs set to 75 degrees or even hotter! The idea of drinking red wine at 75 degrees makes me queasy. It should be against the law, and it probably is in France.
The ideal serving temperature for whites is somewhere between the mid 40's to the mid 50's, depending on how rich the wine is. Serve your lighter whites colder and your richer, heavier ones warmer. For reds, it's from the mid 50's to the mid 60's with the same rules as the whites otherwise. Trust me, try drinking your wines around the right temperature and it will change your life. The easiest way to achieve this is by getting a wine fridge with two temperature chambers, one at about 45-50 degrees for the whites and one about 60-65 degrees for the reds. I received one of these a few years ago as a gift and they make it so easy! The only problem is they are very expensive.
A simple and free workaround for this is the old "15 Minute Rule." Pop your reds in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving and take your whites out of the fridge for 15 minutes before serving. I personally like my reds a little more chilled, especially in the summer, so I will often go for 20-25 minutes in the fridge, but you get the idea. Experiment with what works best for you and see if you like the results. I think you will!
Chillable Reds
Now when I'm talking about "chillable reds" I'm talking about chilled down cold, like 50 degrees cold. Not every red can be chilled down to this point without it tasting like you have made a huge mistake. Chilling down any wine changes the flavors and the perceived structure of the wine itself. For this reason, some reds are better suited to being served chilled than others.
First off, serving a red wine cool can intensify the tannins — that bitter, astringent feeling you get when drinking your favorite Cabernet. If you like your wines to taste "smooth," then this is a big no-no. The red wine you want to chill needs to be low in tannin.Secondly, chilling down a red wine will intensify the feeling of "body" in a wine. So your favorite full bodied, dark and inky red might taste like sludgy cement in your mouth if it's too cold. An ideal candidate to chill would be lighter in body, like a Pinot Noir or a Gamay from Beaujolais. Thirdly, serving a wine cold will mute some of the fruitier flavors in the wine, so choose a red with lots of fruit flavor.
Therefore, the ideal wine to chill will be light bodied, low in tannin and with loads of fruit. In other words, the wine equivalent of fruit punch. Pinot Noir and Gamay are good contenders. My favorites right now are a Cinsault from France called L’Amandier and a Spanish blend called La Maldicion. Both are light and fruity and perfect contenders for a chill.
Giving up your favorite reds during the hotter months is a sacrifice you just don’t have to make! Just chill your reds, and enjoy your summer. Also, while we are breaking wine drinking laws, please don't ever serve Brut Champagne with wedding cake.
Andy Hale is a Certified Specialist of Wine and was a professional Sommelier in Charleston until he moved to Asheville. He is now the Education Director at Metro Wines.
