What temperature to serve wine

The mistake most people make is to serve white wines too cold and red wines too warm. If you leave a bottle of wine in the fridge for several hours it kills its more subtle flavours stone dead

Depending on the efficiency of your fridge 45 minutes to an hour is enough for a full-bodied white such as Chardonnay and up to an hour and a half for crisp dry whites, aromatic wines such as Riesling and sweet and sparkling wines like Champagne. Rosés and lighter reds such as Beaujolais and Pinot Noir also benefit from being lightly chilled but even more full-bodied reds shouldn’t be allowed to get too warm and soupy. It’s better to leave them in a cool unheated (but not freezing) room rather than the kitchen or dining room and definitely not next to a boiler or radiator.

If you forget to chill a wine or need to chill it at the last minute either plunge the bottle into a bucket of iced water or pop it briefly (no more than 15 minutes!) in the freezer. You can also buy insulated jackets to freeze and then slip over the bottle. (The Vacuvin range has two sizes - one for still, and one for sparkling wines. They’re available in most department stores and on Amazon)

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