Temperature Matters

The temperature is soaring into the high 90s in New Jersey this week, and we're cranking up the A/C to make ourselves more comfortable.

What about those bottles that have been sitting on your counter? Well, temperature matters to those, too, and if you don't take care of your wines, you could be left with some not-so-fantastic tasting wine come October.

The ideal storage temperature of wine is 50 to 55 degrees fahrenheit, but a range of 45 to 70 degrees is considered completely acceptable. What's important is that the storage temperature remain constant or, if it changes, that the change not be drastic. The warmer temperatures of the summer cause wine to age faster, so if you're the type that doesn't care much for AC unless it's unbearable, now might be the time to relocate those special bottles you're saving to your cooler basement for a while. If you're like me and don't have a basement, very wine refrigerators are available for under $100. They hold, generally, around 16 bottles of wine and are compact enough to keep on your kitchen counter.

When we're serving pink and white wines during these warm summer months, the ideal temperature to serve them at is somewhere between 40 and 55 degrees, depending on the complexity of the wine's flavor. More intricately flavored wines should be served on the warmer side of this range in order to fully reveal their full scope of aromas and flavors.

Chilling or cooling wine can be accomplished by placing the bottle in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 hours, depending on the desired final temperature. OR wine can be chilled in about 20 minutes by submerging the bottle in an ice (or wine) bucket filled with half cold water and half ice. If the bucket isn't tall enough for the ice and water to cover the bottle's neck, invert the bottle for the last 5 minutes, as long as there isn't a lot of sediment in the bottle. If you're serving the wine on your deck or patio for dinner, bring the ice bucket outside to keep the wine cold. Conversely, wines that are too cold can be quickly but gently warmed by placing the bottle in a bucket of warm water for about 5 minutes.