At what temperature should wine be served

The temperature at which wine is served has a tremendous impact on its taste. Serving wine too cold or too warm will negatively affect its taste and qualities.

A conventional rule of thumb is that red wine should be served at room temperature while white wine should be served chilled. However, we need to be more precise, since room temperature varies from city to city and season to season, and some refrigerators may be set too cold.

On average, for best results, wine must be served at the following temperatures:

• Sparking Wine: 48˚F (9˚ C)
• White Wine: 53˚F (12˚ C)
• Rose Wine: 51˚F (11˚ C)
• Red Wine: 62˚F (17˚ C)

Slight variations of less than +/-10% are acceptable.

In the last few years, portable wine cellars have become popular. These small refrigerators can be set up at the optimal wine temperature and can store a few or many bottles of wine. It is now possible to buy an entry level wine cellar for around $100.


If you don’t have a wine cellar and you use your refrigerator instead, there is a rule of thumb that will tell you how far in advance you must put the bottle in the refrigerator (or remove it if it’s already there) to achieve the best serving temperature:

A bottle of wine will cool 2 °C (4 °F) for every ten minutes in the refrigerator, and will warm at about this same rate when removed from the refrigerator and left at room temperature.