How cool is cool?
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Refridgerator
The Good Housekeeping wine guru Richard Ehrlich gives his top tips for getting the best from your bottle
A heated problem
Here\'s the bad news: you can ruin a good bottle of wine by serving it at the wrong temperature. The good news: it\'s easy to make sure the temperature is right. All you need is a fridge (or a freezer), enough time and forethought to chill as needed, and a table of ideal serving temperatures (provided as you click on through this gallery). You will make your life easier, too, if you also have an instant-read digital thermometer - also useful in the kitchen by the way...
It isn\'t rocket science
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Unlike this picture, wine cooling isn\'t rocket science
If this all sounds scary, it shouldn\'t. Getting wine to the right temperature doesn\'t need scientific precision. While some wine writers give just a single temperature for just about every wine under the sun, most give a range of temperatures. That\'s what I\'m going to do here, with the help of a serving chart from an eminent authority...
Chilling in the summer
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Dusty bottles of wine
Serving temperatures are especially important in the summertime, when the ambient temperature is at its highest. But they\'re also important in winter, if you\'re storing your wine in a house that has central heating. No wine should be served over 65F (18°C). In summer, that means the idea of serving red at "room temperature" is all wrong. The whole idea of "room temperature" dates back to a time when wine was usually kept in cellars and rooms were much cooler than they are now.
How long does chilling take?
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Cooling wine in a wine bucket
The fastest way to chill wine is to put it a bowl or bucket filled with ice water to cover the bottle at least up to the shoulder. This will take around 20 minutes. The freezer is second-fastest, though not as fast you would think: a bottle of white wine at 20°C doesn\'t reach 6°C for around 45 minutes. (And with the freezer, of course, you need to make sure you remember to take it out before it freezes!)
The fridge is where most of us will be chilling wine. As a test, I put a bottle of white wine at 20°C in my 5°C fridge and recorded the temperature every 30 minutes. It didn\'t reach 6°C until around two and a half hours later. Plan ahead. Don\'t think you can pop the bottle in at 7.30pm and find it ready for drinking at 8. On the other hand, for chilling red down from 20°C to 18°C, 30 minutes of fridge-time will be perfect.
If it is too cold
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Cold red wine at a picnic
This is especially likely to happen with wine you\'ve been keeping it in a properly cold fridge. Take the bottle out 20 minutes before you plan to serve it. But remember also: better to serve the bottle (red or white) when it\'s too cold rather than too warm. It will quickly warm up.
Ideal serving temperatures
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The Sotheby\'s Wine Encyclopaedia, Sharon Lucas and Tom Stevenson (Dorling Kindersley, £35)
These serving temperatures are adapted from
The Sotheby\'s Wine Encyclopaedia, Sharon Lucas and Tom Stevenson (Dorling Kindersley, £35)
| Wine Type | Temperature |
| Sweet and sparkling | 4.5-7°C |
| White | 7-10°C |
| Rosé and light-bodied red | 10-12.5°C |
| Medium-bodied red | 12.5-15.5°C |
| Full-bodied red | 15.5-18°C |
Measuring sticks
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Digital wine thermometer
If you\'re serious about wine, you\'ll need an instant-read digital probe, usually used in cooking -
www.nisbets.co.uk sells one for £19.99 + VAT (pictured). The alternative is a dedicated wine thermometer, which works well but is less versatile.
This thermometer (£21.95, sold by
www.divertimenti.co.uk) has a useful code on the dial saying what wines are suitable for each temperature range.
