You read about a wine that is strongly reviewed and hustle off to your local wine shop to get a bottle. You have some friends over and pop the cork for dinner. Much to your disappointment, the wine is okay but not nearly as good as the review suggested. The issue might be the temperature of the wine.
Wine is not like water. You can drink water at room temperature, ice cold or even a bit warm and still get relief. Warm wine is rarely very tasty. This is because the temperature plays a role in bringing out certain flavors and elements of the vintage. The temperature can also inhibit certain flavors and elements that might be to strong when the wine is at room temperature. Put another way, temperature is a key factor in bringing balance to the wine.
Wine
White wine is a classic example. It should be served just a bit cooler than refrigerator temperature in the 43 to 46 degree range. Obviously, that is Fahrenheit as the equivalent in Celsius would be a boiling wine! Regardless, this temperature range provides a perfect balance of the competing elements of the white. What if you serve it below this temperature range? The flavors all become bland and hard to distinguish. Serving the wine at room temperature, in contrast, produces a wine that is very acidic. Generally, it is best to start a white at around 43 degrees. As it warms up slowly in the glass, more flavors will emerge.
What about reds? Well, they say you should serve a red wine at room temperature. This cliché is from an older time and actually is incorrect in most modern environments. A red should be served at a temperature equivalent to the water coming out of your tap. I don't know about where you live, but that is a lot colder than the rooms in my home. To resolve the issue, just put your red in a tub of tap water for a few minutes and the temperature and flavor should balance out nicely.
Wine is very temperature sensitive. While we've covered the general guidelines for whites and reds here, always take the time to find out the optimal temperature for the specific wine you are going to drink. If you don't, you might think an otherwise fine wine has something wrong with it.
Wine - Temperature and Taste Issues
Thomas Ajava writes for Nomad Journals - makers of leather wine journals that make great wine related gifts for any occasion including wine tasting parties.