As we Aussies know, the way you store the wine and the temperature at which you serve it has a notable impact on the way it tastes. We asked the experts at the Vintec Club (a private club for owners of Vintec and Transtherm wine cellars and online resource for wine enthusiasts) to share their expert tips on cellaring and serving wine.
Tips For Wine Cellaring
The best wines to cellar for aging are Cabernet, Shiraz, Semillon and Chardonnay but all wines need to be stored in a consistently cool and dark place – wine spoils quickly if exposed to fluctuating temperatures, heat or sunlight.
You must keep your wine away from other kitchen appliances too. The vibrations and heat emitted from appliances can speed up the aging process by accelerating chemical reactions.
Tips For Serving Wine At The Ideal Temperature
When it comes to serving temperatures for wine, there is a general misconception that all white wines should be served quite chilled and red wines at room temperature. However, each wine style has its own ideal serving temperature, and Australian room temperature is actually too warm for reds. Serving wine above the correct temperature range could mean aromas are stripped of their finesse and hidden by a sensation of alcohol, while serving below the optimum temperature results in harsher tannins, with bitterness and acidity accentuated.
So what is the ideal serving temperature for each wine?
When the French recommend full-bodied reds are served “chambrés” (roughly translated as “at ambient room temperature”), they’re actually referring to room temperature as it was in European dining rooms in the medieval times. I.e. before central heating existed - so 15°-18°.
So for the Australian home, it is best to let your wine cool down in the fridge for approximately 20 minutes before serving. Of course, if you store your wine in a wine cabinet at cellaring temperature (12 degrees), this is not necessary: just take it out 15 minutes prior to serving. If in doubt though, it’s always better to serve your reds a little cooler, as you can always warm up the glass in the palm of your hand or by letting it warm up a few degrees before serving.
For whites, 2-3 hours in the fridge is perfect, but no longer - as white wines should never be served under 5° and if they’re coming straight out of a 2° fridge, the only thing your taste buds will ever register is acidity. Instead of leaving a bottle in the fridge all day, simply place it in a bucket of ice and cold water while you prepare dinner: 30 minutes should suffice.
This handy infographic by Vintec explains the best serving temperature for each style of wine.
About Vintec Wine Cabinets
Vintec Australia is the exclusive importer of Danish-designed Vintec climate-controlled wine cabinets, and French hand-built Transtherm wine cellars, which can be built into kitchens or set up as stylish freestanding units – equipped with wooden sliding shelves, UV-treated tinted glass and attractive dim LED lighting. Vintec and Transtherm wine cabinets are recommended by the most respected wine critics for their elegant-looking cellar solutions, which are efficient at keeping wine in pristine condition for the long or short term.
Discover some of their best selling wine storage solutions here.
Find more expert tips for cellaring, serving and collecting wine via The Vintec Club.
