3 minute read
Sparkling & Sweet Wines.
I’m going to start this by saying that really, the ‘right’ temperature for a wine is the temperature at which YOU want it. You’re drinking it after all – so if you prefer your Shiraz straight from the freezer … then that is absolutely what you should do!
However, if you’re up for a bit of experimentation and want to see if you can really get the most out of your wines, here are some really simple guidelines.
The first thing we need to acknowledge is just how cold a domestic fridge is. And it’s cold: 4°C kind of cold. That’s almost freezing. And this means that if you’re wine has been in the fridge for, say, 24 hours (or a week) then that’s how cold your wine is. And yes – that pretty much is the perfect temperature for a beer on a hot summer’s day! But for many wines … it’s not so great.
Let’s start with the wines for which, actually, straight from the fridge isn’t so bad: sparkling wines and sweet wines. Why is that?
Sparkling Wines – a bottle of sparkling wine is under a huge amount of pressure because of all that lovey carbon dioxide trapped inside. Now – gas as it warms expands so a warm bottle of sparkling wine will be under even more pressure and it’s super likely to pop its cork on you in some kind of dramatic and unexpected manner. You can try this out by taking a bottle of sparkling wine, removing the foil and cage and leaving it on a table for a while. Eventually, yep, the cork will remove itself. By chilling the wine, the gas contracts, there’s less pressure and opening the bottle is much, much safer.
Secondly (and importantly), our perception of a wine’s acidity is heightened when the wine is chilled. And acidity is the thing that makes us think the wine is refreshing. And what do we want from a sparkling wine? More often than not, a refreshing drink that is going to work brilliantly with all those tasty canapés. There’s a double whammy here too – as often those canapés are things like smoked salmon – which is a little bit oily and yes, the acidity cuts through the oil, meaning everything just works.
Sweet wines – it’s a similar story! Here we need the acidity to cut through the sugar in the wine. The acidity literally refreshes our palate so instead of our mouth feeling like it’s wading through spoonfuls of honey, it feels like it really wants another sip of something delicious. I’ll often say to students that, if your lips feel a bit sticky but the inside of your mouth doesn’t, that’s a great indication that a sweet wine has great acidity.
A caveat on all this chilling though … one thing that chilling a wine does is that it starts to dull down the flavours (and, if a wine is dramatically overchilled, mask them altogether!). Obviously that’s not desirable – you want to be able to taste something after all (otherwise you’d just have a glass of water, right?). With sparkling wine, the bubbles help release the flavours and aromas and with sweet wines, their flavours and aromas are typically so dense and pronounced that they can handle that chilling and still deliver.
So … straight from the fridge is fine for sparkling and sweet wines. Ideally, you probably do want them just a touch warmer (think 6-10°C) but by the time the wine is poured into a glass and you have a chat (and one or two snacks) it’s likely to be just perfect!
Thirsty? Here’s some ideas to whet your palate …
