Bob already gave some good information so I'll just expand on it a bit.
"Room temperature" goes back to when houses had no central heat and basements were in the 50 degree range in winter and even the living areas were maybe 60 or so degrees. In general, whites are best on the cooler side, reds a bit more warmer. If you chill them too much, they tend to lose some of the flavor and bouquet. I like to open a bottle of red wine and decant it a couple of hours before serving. Yes, it really does make a difference.
The more radical factions will have wines served at specific temperatures such as type love is best at 51 degrees while type YYY should be 53 degrees. I can't tell that kind of difference. See the chart below.
I have a 30 bottle wine cooker that I keep at about 53 to 55 degrees. I take reds from it and decant, or at least open for some time before serving. whites, in the summer, get put into the refrigerator for a half hour or so just because I like them on the cooler side.
Remembrances. 5250On 2 Jan 2006 22:14:29 +0100, Wayne Boatwright We were not a sport-observant family: no holiday TV games, no superbowls, or world series, etc. My dad golfs but he doesn't talk about it...
Hope this works when posted in plain text. Degrees F, degrees C, then the wine type.
66¡ 19¡ Vintage Port
64¡ 18¡ Bordeaux, Shiraz
63¡ 17¡ Red Burgundy, Cabernet
61¡ 16¡ Rioja, Pinot Noir
59¡ 15¡ Chianti, Zinfandel
57¡ 14¡ Tawny/NV Port, Madeira
55¡ 13¡ Ideal storage for all wines
54¡ 12¡ Beaujolais, rose
Remembrances. 5249The link you posted was not "beautiful." It was ugly and hurtful. How do people imagining their loved ones playing croquette rain on your parade...
52¡ 11¡ Viognier, Sauternes
50¡ 10¡ -
Scrambled eggsIME the issues with restaurant scrambled eggs have to do with them commonly cooking them over a griddle. This isn't IMHO a good idea. The griddle is too hot and furthermore has open sides. In...
48¡ 9¡ Chardonnay
47¡ 8¡ Riesling
45¡ 7¡ Champagne
43¡ 6¡ Ice Wines
41¡ 5¡ Asti Spumanti
Most of the enjoyment that comes from drinking wine involves its aroma. Taste only has four aspects - sweet, sour, salty, acid. The nose does the rest. Vapors are created as wine warms up, so the wine needs to be a few degrees below its ideal drinking temperature for this to work. Room Temperature is rarely 'wine drinking temperature' - if you're in the Indian Ocean on a yacht, you hardly want 100¡ Chardonnay! How about Houston in July? Warmth makes white wines taste dull. Few homes are regulated to match wine-drinking temperatures.
So throw out the old "refrigerate all whites, drink all reds at current room temperature" adage. Here is a chart to indicate in general best temperatures for drinking wine at. Remember, though, that you also want to keep in mind the temperature of the room relative to this 'idea temperature'. If your room is 60¡F and you are serving a fine Burgundy, perhaps chill the Burgundy to 58¡F to allow it a little warming up in the glbutt. Fridges do well for cooling a wine when necessary, but for warming I prefer to warm it with my hands, glbutt by glbutt.
