This episode of “White wine 101” is sponsored by Apothic, makers of a lot of red white wines. We’re talking Apothic Red, Crimson, Inferno, Crush, and those are simply the blends. Do not even get me started on the single varietals like Apothic Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Today, we’re covering when to chill red white wine. What? You can chill red wine? Red wine like Apothic needs some chill element too. To discover all the shades of Apothic, follow the link in the episode description to www.TheBarrelRoom.com.
On this episode of “Red wine 101,” sign up with host Keith Beavers to talk about why you need to consider chilling red wine and the very best way to begin.
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Keith Beavers: My name is Keith Beavers, and I’m sort of all right with this. I said I would stop eating peanut butter for a month, and these are the times when you truly … I consumed peanut butter.
What’s going on, red wine lovers? From the VinePair Podcasting Network, this is “White wine 101.” My name is Keith Beavers. I am the tastings director of VinePair. Hi. Hi.
So today, I get this question all the time. I’ve been getting it for years, and I enjoy talking about it. When do you chill red wine? Do you chill red wine? Which white wine do you chill? What?
Okay, wine fans. I don’t know when it was. I do not remember the year, however it was hot outside, and I had an Italian dining establishment, and a wine representative was available in. This resembles a long time back. A wine associate came in with a white wine made from an Italian grape called Schiava. Oh, people, if you haven’t– challenging to discover– a red wine made from Schiava is incredible: light, beautiful, peppery, floral. It’s such an incredible wine. It’s from Piedmont. And he served it to me, well, I was shopping some white wine.
He brought it out, put it on the counter, and there was condensation on the bottle. I resemble, “Wait, that white wine is chilled.” He’s like, “Yeah.” I resemble, “All right.” And I took a sip, and it blew my mind. It was an extremely interesting minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You can drink red white wine chilled? That was among the biggest mind-blowing minutes. And considering that I’ve had the white wine, I do not have the red wine shop anymore, but in having the wine store and the restaurant, when I got people, all of us know we can chill red wine now because it’s sort of a popular thing, however in the past, it strikes you like, “Wait. What?” And it ends up being really exciting. So for me, as a restaurant owner who had a by-the-glass program, and I likewise had a retail store at the exact same time, I was throwing red wines in the chiller all spring and summer long, even often into the fall.
So what is this about? Since we discover things with white wine, right? You chill red white wine. Yeah, sorry. You throw white wine in the refrigerator. You serve red wine at room temperature level or what’s called quote unquote, cellar temperature, which we will need to talk about. However when we go outside the standards like, “Wait. What are you doing? Why? What’s the advantage of a chilled red wine?” Let’s enter into it.
Why do we even chill white wine, whether it’s white, red, bubbly, sweet? What is it? Why are we doing this? Well, there is a great deal of human experimentation because white wine is so old, but there’s likewise an enologist, an instructor, an educator, researcher by the name of Émile Peynaud in Bordeaux. This resembles the 1940s and ’50s. He was born in 1912, however he was doing all of this stuff in the 1940s and ’50s in Bordeaux. And remarkably enough, his pupil was a guy by the name of Michel Rolland, who was accountable for some of the most fantastic wines in the world. I really had a possibility to meet him just recently for the very first time. Talk about bucket list stuff. Anyway, Émile Peynaud is responsible for a lot of the important things that we take for approved, again, I do not make red wine, that individuals consider granted in the winemaking, in viticultural procedure that today is just standard. For example, malolactic conversion. He was the first to really observe and comprehend that. And something as simple as winemaking starts in the vineyard. That was among his concepts also.
Another thing that he was really huge on was just understanding how we delight in wine, attempting to find out the science of our enjoyment, and trying to document methods which we can delight in red wine to the max, and part of that was temperature level. And his observations and his findings led to more experimentations. And after that, what I’m stating is the concept of temperature level and wine is not completely comprehended and can be extremely challenged in particular elements of it. So it’s observational more than concrete science, however observations can enable us to comprehend a bit more about why we would want to chill a red white wine.
The important things is, red wine is a lot of stuff in a bottle. It’s alcohol. It’s acidity. It’s tannins. It’s pigmented tannins. It’s all these compounds, acetaldehyde. There’s so much happening in a wine. And if temperature is a consider the winemaking procedure, then it ought to also be an element when it remains in the bottle because the constituents that comprise the wine are still there. They’re just communicating with each other in a smaller sized environment.
And based on everything you know now from listening to “Red wine 101,” various red wines have various consistencies. Gewurztraminer is different from red white wine. There’s more phenolic substances in a red white wine than there remain in a white wine. There’s more residual sugar in a dessert red wine than there remains in a still white wine. There is greater acid in a champagne than there is in a Pinot Grigio. And temperatures within a wide variety can affect each of these white wines in various ways. But in basic, particular things can take place. At high temperatures, a white wine in a glass will evaporate alcohol at a much more rapid pace.
Remember last week we were speaking about how to save red white wine? If it’s too hot, things can happen. Very similar here. And at a warm temperature level, let’s say when above that sort of 77 and even 75 degrees Fahrenheit since the alcohol’s evaporating so quickly, your perception of the intricacy of the red wine is jeopardized, and the white wine can sort of seem off. Perhaps even off-balance or something’s incorrect with it, but it’s definitely going to be jeopardized.
Also, the warmer the wine is, the more we view sweetness since alcohol was as soon as sugar. And if alcohol is dominating the red wine in your glass, you’re going to perceive sweet taste. And again, it’s going to eliminate from the white wine. That’s why when individuals state serve red wine or fully grown red white wine between 60 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit, that is a long-observed safe area for red white wines. It’s not always perfect, however that’s an excellent beginning point. But that’s not chilled red white wine. We’ll get there.
So it would make good sense that for white wines, you could even go even more down in temperature since of its absence of phenolic substances compared to a red wine. There’s not a lot going on. There’s a lot of complexity and texture in white wine. I’m not saying that. I’m simply stating clinically and physically, it takes advantage of a chill since white wines tend to have a higher acidity. And when you chill red wines with a high, see, we’re sort of getting to some location here, red wines with greater acidity, they are perceived as better, more resilient. That’s why it’s often recommended to serve gewurztraminers between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
And as far as sweet wines are worried, this is really fascinating due to the fact that of that level of acidity we’re talking about, how that illuminates a wine. Well, dessert wine or sweet wines that have excellent acidity can really be taken in at space or cellar temperature level. They can also benefit from a chill, however there are sweet white wines out there that are dense because they don’t have level of acidity, and they take advantage of a chill as well. And that’s why it’s typically suggested to serve sweet red wines that require a little bit of chill in the lower 40s to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, this window here is likewise truly great for bubbly due to the fact that when a bubbly is served above 50– if you’re going right above 50, it’s not that bad– however when you get up to 68, in that area, it gets warm, and the warmer a bubbly gets, the quicker the gas is launched, and it actually makes it a very frothy, in-your-face, not a really pleasurable white wine. You desire that crispness with bubbly. So you want to chill it down. Likewise, we must discuss sabering one day, but when you desire a saber a white wine, you desire that bubbly to be very, really, extremely cold so that the activity in that bottle is a little sleepy. So when you saber it, absolutely nothing simply goes definitely nuts, and half the bottle does not shatter. So low 40s to about 50 degrees is really helpful for bubbly.
So you discover we went from about 40, the lower 40s, all the way as much as about 60-64 degrees Fahrenheit as a great range of temperature levels for different kinds of wines. We did sort of miss that 50 to like 55, 56 Fahrenheit right there. And right there, wine lovers, that is the comfortable home of light-bodied, resilient, soft, red white wine, red wine that is perceived as such because of its natural level of acidity. And it so occurs that white wines that have this great acidity originated from cooler white wine regions: the Loire Valley, Beaujolais, New Zealand, especially the Central Otago location, Mendocino, and a lot of grapes that prosper in these cool climates tend to have a naturally high acidity in the resulting wine.
Yes, there are exceptions to every rule, however this is just a basic statement. Like, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Mendocino can actually have a greater acid and be very great, but it’s not a white wine you’re going to wish to chill down. Due to the fact that if you wish to chill a red white wine, and you absolutely ought to chill red wine, this is the type of rule. Keep in mind when we were discussing gewurztraminer? When you chill a white wine, it has greater acid, so the enjoyment and the understanding of drink is that much greater. Well, if you were to take a young, vibrant, light, soft, red white wine from a grape like Gamay, Schiava, which I spoke about earlier, Grignolino, which is another red white wine grape, that’s incredible, and light from Piedmont, some Pinot Noirs. You can even chill the carbonic macerated red white wines that are coming out of California like mad right now.
Émile Peynaud stated that “at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, a red white wine that’s indicated to age is hot and thin. At 64, it’s flexible and fluid. At 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s full and astringent.” So, clearly, that center number is what develop, age-worthy white wines are choosing. However if you notice that 50 degrees Fahrenheit is complete and astringent, that suggests that a red wine that has a great deal of phenolic things in it is going to feel full and astringent when it’s chilled. A red wine that has more acidity, a greater acid, so the white wine is perceived to be light anyhow. When it’s chilled a bit, we’re talking simply listed below 50, like 48, someplace. If you can decrease to 38, it’s odd. However someplace right below 50, in the 45-50 degree variety, that wine will focus its fruit while retaining its vibrancy with level of acidity and will be satisfying when cooled.
And the important things about wine is red wine always comes, well, typically, it regulates itself. It comes up to room temperature and basically stops there. So if you remain in a warm environment and you have a red wine that you serve cooled in the lower part of the degrees like 40, 45, something like that, the wine is going to be cold. However if it’s hot outside, it’s going to gradually, gradually come to space temperature, whether you’re at a picnic table or in a living-room, so it ultimately will get to the very same spot as the room. And by that point, your taste buds has actually been enjoying this red wine when it was cool. And now that it’s finally at room temperature level, all of the aromas and all of the incredible attributes of the white wine will be there for you. When the wine is cooled due to the fact that it has high acid, you will not be denied anything because the fruit is focused, but the level of acidity is breaking the white wine up, allowing you to enjoy the minor concentration of fruit in the wine that will eventually heat up and reveal itself in various methods.
Are you thrilled? I believe you should be. I like cooling red wine. When we had our wine shop, we had a red wine section for chilling. On the shelf, we had a different section for “these are red white wines you should chill.” And then we had a fridge to chill the red wines, an entire area for that. We even had something called a cyclone where on your way out the door, if we didn’t have it chilled, you toss it in the cyclone, and it whirls around all this cold air and chills a white wine extremely fast and rapidly, which is totally fine for the wine.
Okay. Whew. Now, you’re excited. You’re like, “Oh my gosh, Keith. I’m going to go get a bottle of red wine. I’m going to go to the white wine shop. I’m going to talk to the person, and I’m going to have a discussion about chilled red. I’m going to get the wine that can chill. What do I do next? Do I put it in the fridge? Do I put it in the freezer? Where do I put it?”
Cooling a red white wine in the fridge might take up to 2 hours, depending upon the refrigerator. You know your fridge and how cold it is, but up to two hours. So it could take a while. If you were to put that bottle, that bottle of red wine, in a pail with some ice and water, not just ice, however ice and water, that red wine will chill down within 30 minutes. If you want to put that white wine in the freezer, that’s amazing. That shaves 20 minutes off, so you can get a bottle nice and cold in about 20 minutes, perhaps thirty minutes. But something about putting red wine and even any white wine in the freezer is simply do not forget it because, as we stated in the last episode, if it gets too cold, insane stuff can take place.
But this is the thing. You do not actually know what temperature the wine is at. So you’ve put the red wine in a container with some ice and some water. You’ve put it in the freezer. You’ve put it in the refrigerator. You’re like, “Okay. But what is it, Keith? You’re providing me all these numbers, and what is it?” However that’s the important things, guys. You don’t understand. However these are simply the guidelines you can utilize to get the red wine cooled and the kind of wines you can chill to get to that location of delighting in cooled red wine with high acid, young, dynamic awesomeness. One thing you can do is– I believe you can discover it on Amazon– I’m not really sure, however they’re like temperature level bracelets for bottles. It appears like a bracelet. It has a digital readout on it, like a flat, wide bracelet. And you can clip this thing onto the primary body of a bottle, and it’ll digitally register the Fahrenheit degrees, so you understand where you’re at. Is it precise? Not 100 percent, but it’s getting you close.
This is a part of white wine that’s type of loosey-goosey. I’m simply jiving with you men now to assist you out since I understand as soon as the warm weather hits, whether we’re in it now or whatever, you’re going to want a chilled red wine. And I got to tell you, even in the fall and the winter, cooling a red white wine in the fridge, there’s a fire roaring, or the heat’s going, whatever. It’s constantly good to have a nice, rejuvenating, young, lively red white wine. It does not matter actually when it is throughout the year. It’s just scrumptious.
I hope this helped you out. I understand that I didn’t give you specifics, but you have to go to the red wine shop and check that out due to the fact that I could tell you things like red wines from Gamay, and Pinot Noir, which I stated earlier, however there are numerous other wines I would enjoy to inform you about that could be cooled, but they’re simply a bit tougher to find, Schiava, Grignolino. The lovely red grape that makes Txakolina. Hondarrabi Beltza, it kind of tastes like Taxi Franc however lighter. It’s amazing. So head out there, grab a wine, chill it down. If you wish to get that little thermometer, I’ll throw it up on an Instagram story so you men can see it @vinepairkeith. But be all right with chilling red wine. Now you understand what you can chill. You can even chill one that shouldn’t be cooled to get an example of why that shouldn’t have been chilled. Now you’ve got some guidelines, and we’ll talk next week.
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And now, for some completely awesome credits. “Red wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours genuinely, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I wish to give a huge ol’ shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for developing VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for producing the most amazing logo for this podcast. Also, Darbi Cicci for the signature tune. Listen to this. And I wish to thank the whole VinePair personnel for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.
Ed. note: This episode has actually been edited for length and clearness.