Drinking Temperature Guidelines

Unless you have a wine thermometer, it is very difficult to gauge the temperature of your wine. Trial and error will help you perfect the timing for the temperature in your home, refrigerator and freezer, but the guidelines below are a good place to start.

Red Wine

Red wine should be drunk at a temperature of approximately 15-18°C (59-64°F). If you are drinking a red of questionable quality you might want to drink it at the lower end of the scale to numb it a bit. A Beaujolais (good or bad), should be served it at 12°C (60°F). In general, the richer and heavier the wine, the warmer it should be.

If you store your wine at around 20°C (68°F), then you should put red wine in the refrigerator for about 10-25 minutes to bring it down to the right temperature.

White Wine

White wines should be chilled to approximately 9°C (48°F), although better quality wines should be drunk at a warmer temperature to bring out the flavour.

In a 20°C (68°F) room, it takes a wine about ten minutes to warm up 2°C (4°F), and twice that speed if it is at 30°C (86°F). If you have fully chilled your wine to 6°C (43°F) (most fridges are approximately this temperature), you will need to take it out about 15 minutes before serving, or eight minutes before in a very warm setting.

Sparkling Wine

Champagne and sparkling wine should be served at about 5-7°C (41-45°F): about the temperature of your refrigerator. So if you plan on leaving your bottle out of your refrigerator for any length of time, you will need to make sure that you have an ice bucket to keep it in.

Sherry

Fino or Manzanilla Sherry should be served like a white wine, and cooled to approximately 10°C (50°F). Sweeter, darker Sherries should be served like red wine or Port - even normal room temperature would be OK.

Fortified Wines

Ideally, Vintage Port should be served at 19°C (66°F), whilst Tawny or non-vintage Port can stand a little chilling to approximately 14°C (57°F), or about 30 minutes in the fridge. Marsala and Madeira should also be served at 14°C (57°F).

Dessert Wines

Dessert wines should be chilled to take the edge off their sweetness. A good wine like a Sauternes should be chilled for around 50 minutes to bring its temperature down to 11°C (52°F), whilst icewine can be cooled for longer: 2-3 hours to bring it to a temperature of 6°C (43°F).

TOP 10

1. Wine

2. Red Wine

3. Champagne

4. White Wine

5. Wine Rack

6. Buy Wine Online

7. French Wine

8. Italian Wine

9. Wine Tasting

10. Wine Online

Wine cooler Case of wine Wine-related gift Fancy corkscrew