'Wine should ideally be served at 18 degrees Celsius. In India, there is a tendency to disregard this thumb rule. So basically what you end up consuming is not wine but vinegar.'

'That's from Aman Dhall, executive director, Brindco' claims an Article in yesterday's Brunch, the free Sunday Supplement with HT.

Profound statement, that!

I don't believe Aman would make such a half baked statement. After pushing through over 100,000 cases during his short wine marketing career and meeting scores of wine makers he must know better. I wonder if  it is the oversight of the journalist of not getting the full facts. I too have been misquoted by journalists several  times. I have been quoted as 'a teetotaler' when I had said  that I used to be a teetotaler, and now drink only wine. Apparently I was talking  about Cabernet Sauvignon as the grape that has done well in Nashik on another occasion when I had mentioned Sauvignon (Blanc).

Unlike in a webzines where errors or  views expressed (incorrectly) can be corrected and updated, it is not feasible to get back to the readers with correction so the readers get the wrong end of the stick in that they often  tend to accept   the information as the gospel truth.

The opening  statement above  and not who made it, though, is the point of my editorial. I have been emphasizing through  various media and on this website frequently during the last four years that the correct serving and storage temperature of wine are critical if we want to enjoy wine better, and better wines.. Serving temperatures are different for different wines. Certainly, red wines should not be served at beyond 18 deg. C. In fact, in summer time it should be served at 16 deg. C as it tends to get warm fast.

On ly full scale wines like   Bordeaux and Australian Cab-Shiraz fall in this category. Other recommended temperatures are even lower: Amarone, Barolo and Barbaresco (16-17), Burgundy, Rhone, top end California Cabs & Zins, and Rioja Reservas (15-17); Chianti Reserva, Chilean Cabernet, ordinary Bordeaux, Pinot Noir (14-16); Cru Beaujolais, Cote du Rhone, Chianti, Sicilian Reds, Barbera, Dolcetto and light Zinfandel including those from Nashik (12-14) and Valpolicella, Beaujolais and Chinon from Loire (10-12). Most producers mention the recommended serving temperature on the bottle, especially from the New World.

Logic, as you can see above is that fuller bodied reds are to be served at higher temperatures, but as the wine body gets lighter, it will be best enjoyed at lower temperature. My usual advice is  to keep the red wine for a few minutes before serving, in the fridge or even in an ice bucket with some water and salt added to make cooling faster. Naturally, light bodied wine would need to be in the bucket for 30 minutes or even more. For the hard core critics and skeptics I must add that the temperatures recommended are indicative and one doesn't need a thermometer to measure it.

If you are in a restaurant, do ask the waiter for an ice bucket even for the red wine. Let me add that people and the restaurant waiters even in the USA are not much better informed at times though the wine culture there has been at least 25 years ahead.

‘Warm red wine is a recurring problem I encounter when dining out at high-end restaurants. For being such a sophisticated dining area, it amazes me that many people in the business apparently think that red wine should be served at room temperature, which is often 23  degrees C or more, depending where the wine is stored', says Michael Bauer, food and wine columnist at San Francisco Chronicle

( view http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=26&entry_id=6073 )

What happens when wine is served at over 18 deg C.? Is it vinegar? Answer is, No. It may not give you its best flavour and bouquet but it will still be wine. Our sense of smell, which is an extremely important aspect of wine enjoyment, is only susceptible to vapours. Red wine is less volatile than white. The idea of right temperature, as also swirling, is to get it to a point where the aromatic substances known as e thers begin to evaporate. This temperature is progressively higher for fuller wines. At warmer temperature, alcohol vapours too get into the nose and the unpleasant alcoholic smell becomes dominating. Wine flavour tends to become more medicinal. Try drinking coke at 18 deg C and you will understand what I mean!