What Temperature Is Your Wine?

Last Friday night we hosted a very special dinner at our place with some very special wines from our cellar and those of our guests. That is what leads to this piece. But first some background to this special dinner.

We have two couples, whom I consider as good friends and my special drinking buddies – Conrad Porth and his wife Mary, and Boyd Russell and his wife Gail (both gentlemen are former Presidents of FOV, whom long time members may recognize). We all have similar palate and have been collecting wines for at least two decades each. We have been getting together and have dinners to celebrate our anniversaries over the years, which happen around late August to mid-September. We have been doing this for maybe at least ten years, except interrupted by COVID-19 or our individual travel plans in some years.

This year, although not any particular milestone anniversaries (43^rd, 48^th and 53^rd), we decided we all have some special wines which need to be drunk and at our age, we should not wait for our special years in two years’ time.

We arranged for Black Apron Cuisine to come and cook at our place for a 4-course dinner. We each contributed two bottles from our respective cellars.

And now, the wines: a 1999 Pol Roger Champagne (Conrad’s) for reception, a 2004 Pavillon Blanc by Chateau Margaux (Boyd’s) with a lobster salad, a 2004 Chateau Margaux (Boyd’s) with duck breast, a 2003 Chateau Mouton (mine) with rack of lamb, a 1996 Chateau Mouton (Conrad’s) with ribeye, and finally a 2001 Chateau d’Yquem (mine) with orange crème brûlée and peach cobbler for dessert. The wines ranged from 21 to 29 years old. They were all fabulous. It was a wonderful dinner.

I usually do not pay much attention to the “exact” temperature to serve my wines. But out of

respect for this flight of wines and knowing my dinner guests being very peculiar wine

connoisseurs, I decided I have to make sure the wines were served at the “exact right”

temperatures. I did some research and came up with the following to share with my readers.

Champagne: 8° to 10° C (46° to 50° F) but for older and vintage Champagne: 12° to 14° C (53° to 57° F)

White Bordeaux: 6° C (43° F)

Red Grand Cru Classe Bordeaux: 18° C (64° F)

Sauterne: 8° to 12° C (46° to 54° F)

A few comments on the temperature ranges. Champagne is especially sensitive to the serving temperature. Too warm, the bubbles will escape too quickly. Too cold, the flavours and nuances will be restricted or not showing as well as it should be. The surprise for me was the recommendation for vintage Champagne. But it worked out for the Pol Roger very well. The white Bordeaux recommendation was a little bit higher than what I usually serve most of my whites. But again, I was surprised that it worked very well for the Pavillon Blanc. I found out my fridge is set at 4° C and it is too cold for whites and my cellar is set at 14° C which is a bit too warm for great white wines. There was no surprise for me as to the red Bordeaux. I know I usually have to let my red come out of the cellar (14° C) and warm up a bit before drinking. In this case, I had the corks pulled at five o’clock and let the bottles sit in the basement outside the cellar to warm up slowly before bringing them up to the kitchen close to dinner time.

The sauterne is the most demanding. Even though it is a white wine, its sweetness demands special attention. Too warm, the wines come across as flabby or even coy. Too cold, you lose most of the nuances.

What is the temperature of your wine?