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

Is Your Wine Sick?

I’ve been having so much fun today searching the internet. I found some very cool gadgets and tools for us winos. Like this one by Nuvo Vino the first infrared thermometer designed to quickly take your wines temperature! Because it does make a difference according to Emile Peynad who was a legendary Bordeaux oenologist and author of The Taste of Wine! And she is right; many times Reds are served to warm and whites are served to chilled! I also chill my reds because they are served so warm it makes them unappealing to me and I LOVE red wines. I am the quintessential Rebel Red girl!

In order to serve wine at a proper temperature, it’s often necessary to ‘unlearn’ some of the basic rules you’ve learned.

For example, the expression ‘room temperature’ is no longer relevant to wine. Modern central heating systems cause rooms to exceed 72°F. At that temperature, all wines lose their appeal.

The tendency of most wine drinkers is to overestimate the difference between wines – serving whites too cold and reds too warm. This is a reason that many white wine drinkers dislike red wine. To them it tastes too rich, syrupy, and exudes too much alcohol. A red wine served at an appropriate temperature greatly lessens those characteristics.

Another tragic myth is that white wine should be served out of the refrigerator. At 40°F, any wine’s aroma and flavor will be completely imprisoned.

All joking aside I think this is a must for your wine tool kit. Not only is it really cool but it is intelligent adding to your savvy image you are building amongst your wine drinking pals!

Here are some tools I found really useful and educational:
Wine Temperature Chart
Wine Temperature Facts

In addition, I highly recommend clicking on the Wine Temperature Tutorial in the bottom right hand corner! Great information.