Which perfect temp for your wine ?

Have you ever tasted a white wine at room temperature (say around 20 ° C)? Otherwise, do the experiment. It is likely that you find the wine too heavy.

Likewise, taste a red tannic wine at 10 ° C: the tannins will appear harder, the bitterness may even disturb you.

Indeed, know that the temperature of a wine greatly modifies the perception you have of it! This is why it is desirable to respect service temperatures to highlight the qualities of the wine.

I propose you to see for each type of wine (red, white, rosé, sweet), its ideal temperature of service, and especially to understand why it is so ...

The Red wine

Nowadays if you go often to wine bars they propose to drink your red wine chilled. 

For me coming from a famous worldwide red wine region (Bordeaux) it is a NO NO.

The service temperature of the red wine will be related to these 2 factors the presence of tannins, and the lower acidity

The lower red acidity must logically imply a higher operating temperature than the white: we do not 

necessarily try to emphasize the acidity, but rather the “unctuosity” of the wine.

On the other hand, the perception of tannins varies greatly with temperature. When the wine is served 

cold, the tannins are strengthened and appear harder. Indeed, the acidity is highlighted. In other words, 

the tannin + acidity couple is harder in the mouth than the tannin + unctuous pair.

The only exception is when your red wine is light and little tannic 

(like several red wines from Argentina Chile California), 

you will be able to serve it more fresh than a robust red wine 

because the acid flavor is underlined and put forward by the cold.

You can easily see this by making this little experiment: Squeeze a lemon, and drink its juice. If the juice is 

served at room temperature, it will be more unpleasant to drink it than if served ice cold.

You’ve got it now ?

In short, a light red wine (that is to say acid and little tannic) will be served at 13-15 ° C, 

while a robust red (ie tannic, unctuous) 15-18 ° C.

The White wine



As you may know, white wine is more acidic than red wine. Thus, the white wine makes you 

salivate, with a fluid salivation characteristic of acidity.  

 The white wine being more acid than red, it is served 

fresher to emphasize its acidity, and to emphasize 

its freshness.  

Now, let us take another white wine, less acid: for 

example a white wine for ageing, which will be 

round more in the mouth. In this case, it will be 

advisable to serve it "a little warmer" because of 

its reduced acidity. This will highlight his unctuosity! 

 To sum up, a dry white wine (ie unsweetened and acidic) will be served at 8-10 ° C,

 while white for ageing can be served at 10-13 ° C 

The Rosé wine
If you've gone so far, you've done the hardest! Rosé is a case similar to white wine.  

In fact, the rosé results from a short maceration of grape skins + juice, which transmits 

just a little color and aromas ... but no tannins (most rosés are not tannic).  

Here is a wine on the fruit, acid and not (or little) tannic: this is the same approach 

as for white wine.

The rosé will be served fresh to highlight its acidity (its freshness). 

8-10 ° C is a good average temp.



The Dessert wine  

Dessert wine is sweet wine: the term "dessert" is used to describe a 

wine with a sugar content between 12g / L and 45g / L. Beyond that, it is called a sweet wine.  

In short, in both cases, the unctuosity of the wine is brought 

by its sugar. So imagine what could happen if you serve the 

sweet wine at room temperature. The "important" temperature 

emphasises the unctuosity of the wine (to the detriment of its 

acidity). 

Therefore, your sweet wine looks very heavy ... even sickening.



This is why it is best to serve soft / sweet wines at 8-10 ° C.




The sparkling wines (crémants, Champagne)

In this case, we try to emphasise the freshness (acidity) of the wine: The acidity and the bubbles

go together, the effervescent wine will be served colder. Another argument to convince you to 

serve your Champagne very fresh. 

The carbon dioxide dissolves better in the liquid (the sparkling wine in our case) when the 

temperature is low. If you serve a hot sparkling soda you will be convinced of this phenomenon: 

the effervescence is exacerbated, the bubble is coarse.  

The same soda served well fresh makes it possible to have a

 fine bubble and a CO2 well dissolved in your wine.  

In summary, serve the effervescent at 8-10 ° C.