Rapid Ice Wine Cooler

This weekend I invested in a VacuVin Rapid Ice Wine Cooler since I prefer my wines chilled. My private collection consists largely of red wines and in my opinion red wines are served to warm. This is a great little bar tool every wino should have. It is easy and doesn’t take up any space. Simply place it in the freezer six hours before you plan on drinking. When you are ready to drink your wine, you remove the rapid ice wine cooler from the freezer and slide over your wine bottle. In about five minutes your wine will be chilled and it keeps it chilled.

Thanks to heating and air conditioning, modern house temperatures are 68 to 73 degrees… I know people who keep theirs higher. Historically, the average room temperature was 55 to 65 degrees and this is the ideal serving temperature. You can quickly see why modern homes aren’t conducive for your wine and would be wise to invest in a wine storage cooler.

Red wines should be served between 55 to 65 degrees. As Master Sommelier Alpana Singh says:

Serving reds closer to their proper cellar temperature heightens the fruit flavor while lessening the alcohol aroma, giving the wine a more vivid structure with focused acidity.  She recommends drinking warm, rather than chilled, vodka to see the difference.

Cheap wines and lighter wines should chilled too. The grape acidity reacts to the cold in a way that makes the wine crispy and snappy, “brightening the wines acidity and heightening its fruitiness, giving it a crunchy, rich texture that will make the simpler or less expensive red wines taste richer and fuller,” says Alpana Singh from Alpana Pours.

Heavier and more complex wines should be served warmer…but not at modern day room temperatures.

Wine Type——————————–Serving Temperature
Sparkling (red, white, rose)                                     40-45
White                                                                                 45-50
Rose & light-bodied red                                             50-55
Medium-bodied red                                                     55-60
Full-bodied red                                                             60-65

To get a more extensive idea of what temperature your favorite wine should be served at visit Nuvo Vino’s Wine Temperature Chart and Wine Temperature Tutorial.

It is a good idea to invest in a Wine Thermometer to get the full essence from your wines.

What happens if the wine temperature is too high?
The higher the temperature, the faster the volatile compounds evaporate from wine in a glass. When red wine is served above 68°F, the alcohol can begin to evaporate so quickly that it unbalances the wine. This same effect happens with whites at about 58°F.

The palate is increasingly sensitive to sweetness the higher the temperature. Most sweet wines have low acidity in relation to their sweetness. When served too warm they taste cloyingly sweet. Chilling sweet wines tempers the sweetness while showcasing the acidity for balance.

With sparkling wines, the higher the temperature, the faster carbon dioxide is released. This not only creates overly frothy wines after opening, but they become flat very quickly.

What happens if the wine temperature is too low?
Quite simply, wine served too cold causes an imprisonment of important aromas derived from the grape. Whites and reds served too cool can taste rather dead, withholding their prominence. In the case of reds, tannins will taste rough and bitter. Serving reds warmer will soften those rough tannins. -Nuvo Vino Temperature Tutorial

Wine Tip #1 – Holding Your Wine Glass

Have you ever wondered if there was a proper way to hold a wine glass? Since I’ve been in wine boot camp I’ve been learning a lot about a lot of different things that I once thought didn’t matter. One of the things I recently learned was how to hold a wine glass.

“Why does it even matter,” you ask? That is a good question. First let’s talk about how to properly hold a wine glass and then I will tell you the “why”. It’s pretty interesting.

You should hold your wine glasses by the stem. That’s it! Try to refrain from holding it by the bowl. The bowl is made for your honker or maybe you have a schnoz.

Now the why…BODY TEMPERATURE.

Hands Off! Yep, you’re a hottie! Your body is like a furnace, your hands put off a lot of heat and for wine that just isn’t good because heat turns the wine faster and it just tastes blah! Eventually it will spoil the wine but if it takes you that long to drink it, I, eh hem, say it is a sure sign that you are talking to much. I would recommend talking less and drinking more.

Truth be told white wines are served to cold and red wines are served to warm. Personally I like my red wines a little on the chilled side and if I do happen to forget how I’m holding my glass, chilled red wine warms slower. I try not to keep my wine sitting in my glass for to long though.

Stemless wear? It is actually for the drinking challenged, don’t feel bad, I fall into that category. I’ve broken far to many of my own favorite wine glasses due to the fact that once I get more than two glasses of wine in me, I start talking with my hands…like signing for the drunk, but I get louder too as if they can’t hear my signing, then I start to sway and wobble back and forth like a weeble wobble. Combine those two and oy! it is a disaster, especially for the sober because they get nauseous watching me. In any event, if you are like me, request or invest in stemless glass wear not only for yourself but your fancy wine wear. Give your stemless wear to your drinking challenged buddies.  You’ll just want to make sure the wine is chilled before serving or put it down between gulps or just drink really fast!

Really though, as my twitter friend @LittleGemSkari said, “I think that depends on how many glasses- after a couple, right side up is most important!” So be mindful of how you are holding your glass!

To learn more, read wine serving temperature and wine glasses.