The wine that came in from the cold

White wine not too cold, red wine not too warm – that’s the well-known rule of thumb for serving wine. In the height of summer, however, particularly given the current heatwaves, it’s advisable to replace this rule with another: serve all your wines as cold as possible! They’ll warm up on their own.

It’s easy to imagine that this advice will meet with widespread approval for white and rosé wines, as well as for anything sparkling. When it comes to red wines, however, resistance is likely to be considerably greater. The rumour that red wine is best served at so-called ‘room temperature’ still persists. Regardless of whether you’re in an air-conditioned dining room at 20 degrees or the pub next door, where the bar area is already 24 degrees in winter and can easily reach 32 degrees in the height of summer.

Yet 20 degrees is already far too warm. Apart from the outdoor areas of ski huts, there are very few situations where the ambient temperature matches that at which one wishes to enjoy one’s wine. And this applies explicitly to red wine as well. There’s hardly anything closer to genuine torture than a Bardolino, Chianti, Rioja, Pinot Noir, or Bordeaux served too warm.

First and foremost, our summer rule is based on the fact that wine served too cold is rarely a problem, as it warms up quickly anyway, whereas the damage caused by a glass poured at too high a temperature is very difficult to rectify.

What’s more, most wine lovers will appreciate the initial refreshing effect of a cold wine before turning their attention to the development of the aromas as the wine slowly warms up.

Far less well known is the pleasure to be had from truly well-chilled reds in summer – provided you choose the right red wines. Anything that focuses primarily on fruit is suitable. By contrast, wines that are too tannic or have pronounced woody notes can taste harsh and bitter when served very cold. If you want to serve the latter at the right temperature to accompany a course, you should take the bottle out of the fridge a quarter of an hour before pouring. All the others, however, taste just as good when served cold, especially when it feels like the Sahara outside.

Below, we’ve selected the best summer wines from our latest tastings. These are wines with particularly low to moderate alcohol content; as for the reds, we’ve chosen only those made from grape varieties and styles that are particularly well-suited to being enjoyed chilled.

We recommend setting aside any preconceptions and fetching your next – carefully selected – red wine straight from the fridge when the evening temperature is 28 degrees. You’ll be surprised at just how much you’ll enjoy it!