Tasting red wine: the serving temperature of red wine
There’s something better than tasting your favorite wine, in good company and paired with the right dish, that enhance its essential characteristics?
And to not compromise or diminish this pleasure, it is better to know some fundamental rules to serve the wine in the right way. Effectively, serving the wine is a real art to know, a special rite that requires precise rules. Among the other things it is fundamental to taste the wine at the right temperature, according to its characteristics: the level of acidity, its structure, its body or the quantity of tannins and many other aspects.
The serving temperature of the red wine, in fact, has the ability to correct and enhance some properties of the drink: whereas the cold enhance the acidity and the floral aromas, a higher temperature allow to appreciate more complex and structured wines.
Considering exclusively the category of red wine, this comprehends a wide range of drinks with characteristics and specific properties that can be enhanced just in particular conditions.
Red wine: characteristics and types
The red wines are considered the wines par excellence, they have good characteristics and specific organoleptic properties, that require punctual consideration about the best way to be served and tasted. Realized through the use of black grapes, actually, there is a wide rade of red shades that depends on the type of grape used and its level of ripening in the moment of vinification. According to the aging of the wine, moreover, the colour goes from red-blue to a ruby red colour.
The aromas of red wine tend to fruity aromas and they remind the perfume of wood, that the wine absorbed during the period in the barrel. The high presence of tannins, finally, give to this wines a certain astringency even if there are red wines pretty fresh, less tannic and, as a consequence with a high level of acidity.
Temperature for different types of red wine
As we have already said, the ideal temperature to serve a red wine depends on numerous elements. Generally, the high presence of tannins requires a higher temperature. More specifically, the young red wines as new wines or Lambrusco, less structured with a higher acidity wants a temperature enclosed between 12° and 14°, up to 16° if the level of tannins increase. Finally, the more structured wines like Barolo or Brunello di Montalcino can reach the 20°. As for spumante wines it is suggested to serve them between 10° and 12°, up to 8° if they are particularly aromatic. In this case, the level of tannin can enhance the serving temperature till 14°.
