This continues to be a sore topic for many wine consumers. Thrice last week I had to endure ‘hot’ wine. When one bartender even offered me ice for my wine, I thought to myself: “Haven’t we been preaching this enough?” Chilling the glass is for cocktails.

Serving temperature is one of the three most important components in our control that will affect our enjoyment of wine; two other important components are stemware and aeration — letting the wine breathe.

We often hear that white wines are to be served chilled, and red wines are to be served at room temperature. That is WRONG. This advice on room temperature relates to climates that are much colder than Jamaica and the Caribbean. As a result of this advice, red wines are almost always served too hot in Jamaica. Serving white wines cold is fine, as they will warm up very quickly.

Ideal serving temperature

Ultimately it’s all about your personal taste, but most red wines taste best at temperatures between 58 degrees and 68 degrees Fahrenheit (14 to 20 degrees Celsius). The red wine bottle or wine glass should be slightly cool to the touch. The cooler side of that scale is for the lighter wines like Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Rioja, and Chianti. Merlot and Cabernet-based wines do best at the other end of that scale.

Most white wines do best between 44°F to 54°F (7 °C to 12 °C). Serving any wine too cold will numb its flavours. The bottle or glass of white wine should be cool to the touch. The cooler side of that scale is for the lighter wines like Rieslings and refreshing Sauvignon Blancs. Chardonnay-based wines taste best at the warmer end of this scale. Sparkling wines and Champagnes are to be served cold.

Quick chill

An ice bucket with water is the best way to bring wines to the correct serving temperature. A bottle of red wine would need to sit in the bucket for about 10 minutes; otherwise, place in the fridge for about 20 minutes and then serve it from the table after that. To bring your white wine to a temperature that will give you the most drinking pleasure, place it in the bucket for about 20-30 minutes or about one hour in the fridge. To reduce the cooling time in the ice bucket, add salt. Remember that a cooler wine can warm up to the correct temperature. Come on, this is not that hard! Please keep talking to the bar and wait staff.

“If your heart is warm with happiness, you’ll need a glass; if sorrow chills your heart, have two!” = Lehmusvuori

Christopher Reckord — Information Technology Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. You can also follow me on