Part II - Temperatures:  where you will discover my favorite gifts from my wife.

I blame this column on my wife.  She enables my obsessions, bless her.  She knows that I love numbers, and looking for patterns in numbers.  Whether it was finding the bingo on everyone’s card when I was 3, keeping baseball stats with my brother every Summer, to being the director of Pricing at a national wireless company, I am proud to admit how happy I am to be a numbers guy.

Of course you are not surprised because, as you know from Part 1, I have a personality disorder.  And, it appears that wine collecting brings it forward to a frightening degree.  And speaking of degrees, my affinity for numbers and specifically, with temperatures is not lost on her, either.  Never one to miss a chance to reinforce my silly obsessions, she kindly indulges me with special gifts at christmas time.  It is safe to say that I can measure the temperature of just about anything, any time, any where, with these gifts.  She gave me a weather station that I keep on the night stand, with two thermometers, one indoor and one outdoor.  Of course, I moved the outdoor probe to the wine cellar, so I can monitor the rise and fall of temps throughout the day, the week, and the seasons.  It has come in handy, alerting me to a frozen A/C coil, or a door left open, or the absolute thrill of marking the day the cellar temperature fell after the long summer.  I’m sure there’s an App for that for my iPad, and I look forward to receiving a similar gift this Christmas. 

I have many different thermometers -- dipsticks for glasses, banded cuffs for bottles, min-max digital readouts (redundant for the cellar), instant-read infra-red thermometers for travel.  I have measured cellar temps in Margaux, barrel temps in Pomerol, and serving temps at three star restaurants in Las Vegas.  I check temps at blind tastings, notice them at professional events, and even comment on them to caterers at press events.  You should see the collection of insulated wine keepers, totes, specialized carafes and bottle wraps I keep.  The freezer is stuffed full of blue blocks and white polar packs.  Barbara also gave me a magnificent EuroCave 2 bottle wine keeper that holds white or red wines at proper serving temperatures with vacuum seals.  She also knows that this is flawed because it doesn’t tell me the actual temperature, it merely requires me to trust it.  So I put a thermometer in it, and found it to be off by a couple of degrees!

I hope you are laughing at me, because I clearly deserve it! 

The point of all this is to prove the headline -- you can drink better wine, even if you don’t drink different wine, by paying a little attention to the details.  And temps are important at several stages in the life of wine.  Some of the most profound wines are grown in regions where the diurnals (the difference between daytime and night time temps) are the biggest.  One of the dilemmas facing Texas wine growers is the fact that it just doesn’t get cold enough at night in many areas that are otherwise well suited for grape growing.

Again focusing on what you can control with the wine you already have, let’s look at temperatures for Storage, and for Service.

2.  Temperature

If you are a daily drinker and really never build up an inventory, there is no need to be especially concerned about storing wine.  And the basic fact is that 90%+ of all wines do not improve with age, so storage is really irrelevant.  However, if you do want to buy and hold a few bottles, the first accessory you should get is a wine fridge.  I’ve had good luck with several different models, from the $100-300 dorm-size units by Haier at Home Depot to full size EuroCaves from Wine Enthusiast for long-term storage of fine bottles.  If you live in Texas or anywhere without a real basement, it’s essential. 

Wine should be stored for long-term keeping in a range between 50-65 degrees.  While it does not have to be a constant 57 degrees, any fluctuations should be gradual, by which I mean seasonal.  The two basement cellars I have had in Philadelphia drop to about 55 degrees from November to February, then rise gradually to the mid 60’s in the Summer.  I run a portable A/C unit during the hottest months to make sure it doesn’t go above 65.  This gradual rise and fall of temps is not a problem for even the finest wines.  No less than Chateau Margaux states the following:  fluctuations are beneficial as long as they are gentle and moderate. Cold weather in winter does not really disturb the bottles above 10°C (50°F) ; neither does hot weather in summer, if the temperature does not go over 18° (64°F) for too long. It has often been said that an average temperature of 14° (57°F) is 'ideal' ; nothing proves that this should be constant, but if there is variation, it should be slow without sudden swings.

If you don’t have a basement, or a wine fridge, it’s better to store your wines in the kitchen fridge than in a room above 72 degrees.  I had to do this in California one year, and none of the wines I stored in the kitchen fridge posed any problems in later years.  I don’t recommend this for more than necessary, but do avoid exposing wines to prolonged temps above 75-80 degrees.  And, have no fear of putting a bottle directly in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, or plunging it into ice for a rapid chill. 

As for serving, keep the following in mind: 

1. •Make sure your reds are in fact, cool enough.  Bordeaux should be served at about 60-64 degrees.  Anything more, and you will lose fruit and structure, replaced with sensations of alcohol and glycerin.  It’s not a problem to pour the wine slightly below, and allow the room bring it to temperature.  Don’t over pour, better to refill than let it get too warm too quickly.  And try this simple test on your wine geek friend:  Pour the same red wine at two different temperatures, it is likely that the cooler one will taste better. 
   

2. •Make sure your whites are, in fact, not too cold.  White wine straight from the fridge is about 10 degrees below ideal, and you will miss the aromas and more subtle nuances upon tasting.  Keeping in mind that it will warm up in the glass, pour it below ideal in smaller portions, and swirl to your heart’s content.  Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc is best at about 45-50 degrees.
   

3. •For Champagne, keep it well chilled.  Bubbles and crisp acidity are essential to the enjoyment of sparkling wine, and cold temperatures maintain both in fine form.  40-45 degrees, max.  Just out of the fridge and into a tulip should be fine!
   

Of course, I am looking for ways to keep a decanted bottle of wine at the right temperature.  I hope to one day invent the right service tray that is suitable for displaying any glass decanter on the table and still maintains the wine at the best temperature. 

For now, if you do want to go to the obsessive trouble of keeping your bottle at the right serving temperature,  the best thing to get is a bottle sleeve from ScrewPull.  Better yet, ask for one for Christmas!

Get these temps right, and you’ll enjoy your daily drinkers even more, I guarantee it!

Next - decanting and aeration.  You think they’re the same thing?  HAhahahaha!

You are NOT a wine nut!