The weather is getting warmer, and there is already a smell of summer in the air, so I like to drink icy drinks. In general, white wines, rosés, sparkling wines, and dessert wines are best served chilled, while red wines can be served at a higher temperature. But this is only a general rule, and only by mastering the basic principles of serving temperature, can you really draw inferences from other facts and bring you more pleasure in tasting wine. So, which wines taste better when chilled?
Scientific research has shown that taste buds perceive different tastes differently under different temperature conditions. For example, when the temperature increases, the taste buds are more sensitive to sweetness, and the wine tastes sweeter, but its sugar content is unchanged.
Contrast tasting a bottle of oaked white wine, you will find that at room temperature, its mouthfeel and acidity will be more relaxed, and its sweetness will be more prominent; after cooling, it will be more savory, lean and concentrated. The taste, with a little structure, can bring people a sense of pleasure.
In general, icing white wine mainly changes the sensitivity of the taste buds to different flavors by changing the temperature. Chilling can make white wines taste saltier, more structured, and give us a refreshing feeling, which is especially important in summer.
So even a poor bottle of white wine may become acceptable when chilled. Of course, if a good white Burgundy is over-iced, there is a good chance that some flavors will be missed when tasting.
So, what exactly determines whether the aroma of a bottle of wine is affected by icing?
In fact, whether it needs to be chilled depends not on whether it is white or red, but on its body. The fuller the wine, the higher the temperature is required in order to allow the odorous components in the wine to volatilize and form aromas. The lighter the wine, the more easily the volatiles in the wine will escape, even at very low temperatures, so the wine can be cooled to a lower temperature.
So, because white wines are lighter in body than red wines, by convention, frozen white wines work well, but there are some exceptions. Well-known wine critic Jesses Robinson believes that excessive cooling in full-bodied white wines, French Rhone white wines, and most of the heavier white wines from warm climates, is a wine tasting point of view. is extremely destructive.
Including rich and full-bodied sweet wines like the Sauternes production area, the drinking temperature should not be too low, and it should be properly chilled. Of course, don’t worry if the temperature is too low, because with a little patience, the temperature of the wine will slowly rise with room temperature after it is in the glass – unless you are drinking in an ice cellar.
Conversely, light-bodied red wines, such as regular Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, red wines from the Loire Valley region of France, many early-ripening Burgundy wines, and red wines from northern Italy, with a little extra It can be very icy and charming when chilled.
By the same token, most sparkling wines and champagnes are served at 6 to 8 degrees Celsius, while vintage champagnes need to be served at a higher temperature to get the most out of their complex aromas.
And rosé wines are generally lighter in body than dry reds, making them more suitable for iced drinking.
The optimal drinking temperature exists in part because a certain amount of heat can reduce our sensitivity to tannins, acidity and sulfides, which is why red wines with high tannins can taste rough and sweet when cooled. There’s also a reason why the wine won’t be so sweet.
So, if you have a terrible bottle of white wine, the best way to disguise it is to drink it chilled. And if you want to feel the characteristics of a bottle of wine as much as possible, whether good or bad, the best temperature is between 10-13 ℃, commonly known as the wine cellar temperature. Red wines can be warmer than cellar temperatures, but you can also warm them by holding the glass in your hand.
Once the bottle is opened, the temperature of the wine will naturally rise slowly, gradually approaching room temperature at a rate of about one degree every three minutes. So you don’t have to worry about whether you’ve overcooled the wine you’re about to enjoy, just remember to have the patience to wait until the wine is at its optimum temperature to reveal the true taste of the wine.
Finally, I will teach you a simple method to quickly reduce the temperature of wine: put the wine directly in the freezer layer of the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. This emergency method can quickly cool the wine. Compared with the standard method of immersing the wine in an ice bucket, So far, it has not been found that this freezing method will cause any harm to the aroma of the wine.
It is worth noting that the cooling method of mixing ice and water is more effective than just ice cubes, because the surface of the wine bottle can be in contact with the ice water, which is more conducive to cooling.
Post time: Apr-19-2022