Chilled Red: Why You Should Serve Red Wine Cool (and Which Reds Can Take It)

A May noon, a terrace in full sun and a bottle of red that someone left on the table since the first round. By the second glass the wine already tastes like warm jam and the alcohol scrapes on the way down. Someone asks for the ice bucket and someone else protests, as if it were an insult. The argument is old and the answer is short: yes, you can serve red wine cold, and on a hot afternoon it is the sensible thing to do.

The custom of drinking red wine at room temperature was born in European houses where the living room rarely passed 64°F (18°C). A hot afternoon in much of Mexico leaves the bottle far above that, and there red wine loses fruit and freshness. What follows are temperatures by type of wine, the grapes that handle the chill, a few Mexican reds to serve cool and the limit.

01Why does red wine taste worse at room temperature?

The expression comes from the French chambrer. In nineteenth-century France it meant taking the bottle out of the cellar, which in winter could be at about 52°F (11°C), and bringing it to the room where it would be drunk, which in the cool zones of Europe hovered around 61 or 63°F (16 or 17°C). The point was to warm up a wine coming out of a cold cellar, in stone houses without central heating.

Room temperature in a Mexican dining room in spring or summer is another story. In Guadalupe Valley (Valle de Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico, August highs hover around 84°F (29°C), according to the averages we cite in the guide to the best time to visit the valley. And above 68°F (20°C), warns Spain's Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU, a consumer organization), the alcohol shows a lot and sweet flavors are accentuated: the red feels heavy and alcoholic.

That is why your red tastes better a little cool: with a few degrees less, the acidity feels livelier and the alcohol stops covering the fruit. Heat weighs from the vineyard on, as we tell in our story on climate change in Guadalupe Valley.

02At what temperature is each wine served?

These ranges match those of our guide to tasting wine and the serving guides we consulted. They are a starting point, and your taste rules.

• Sparkling wines: 43 to 46°F (6 to 8°C).
• Young whites and rosés: 46 to 50°F (8 to 10°C).
• Whites with body or oak: 50 to 54°F (10 to 12°C).
• Light, young reds (Grenache, Pinot Noir, Gamay, Mencía, young Tempranillo): 54 to 57°F (12 to 14°C).
• Medium-bodied reds (Tempranillo or Sangiovese with little oak, young Nebbiolo, fresh Cabernet Franc): 57 to 61°F (14 to 16°C).
• Reds with aging and firm tannins: 59 to 64°F (15 to 18°C).
• Sweet and fortified wines: sweet whites, around 46°F (8°C), and fortified wines, near 52°F (11°C), according to the OCU.

03Which reds can be chilled?

The ones that best handle the cold share three traits: light body, little tannin and good acidity, almost always with little or no oak. Serving guides mention Grenache, Mencía, Pinot Noir, Gamay and young Tempranillo again and again, and the Wine Folly guide counts Pinot Noir, Gamay and Grenache among the low-tannin red grapes, as we explain in our guide to soft and sweet reds.

The reason is in the mouth: cold makes tannin and bitterness more obvious, so a wine with little of either resists it well, and its acidity feels juicier.

There is one grape with a history on this list. The Mission grape, planted in Mexico from the first years of the colonial period, calls for serving slightly cool, at 57 to 61°F (14 to 16°C), as we recommend in the story of the Mission grape.

04Which Mexican reds are enjoyed cool?

In the profiles of our directory there are reds that by grape or style fit the cool range. From Guadalupe Valley, on the Baja California route:

• Viñas de la ERRE makes a young Tempranillo aged 100% in stainless steel and serves wine by the glass in its tasting room.
• Vinícola Castillo Ferrer describes its Tempranillo as fresh, with soft tannins and a smoky finish.
• Cavas Sol y Barro presents its red of Barbera with a little Nebbiolo as light and fruity.
• Encuentro Guadalupe bottles Coyote, a single-variety Grenache, and serves its wines by the glass in the tasting room and on the terrace.

And among the vineyards of Guanajuato:

• Cava Garambullo, in San Miguel de Allende, makes the Pizpireto, a blended red meant to be drunk cool and soon.
• Tres Raíces, in the Dolores Hidalgo area, has a Pinot Noir and a Tré line that the house presents as the most cheerful of its vineyard.
• Bodega Dos Búhos, in San Miguel de Allende, has a Grenache among its varietals, from its own certified organic grapes.

Catalogs change with every harvest. Before you buy, ask whether the wine went through oak, because wood adds tannin and oak does not get along with cold.

05Can you put ice in red wine?

You can, and the matter is more about physics than sin. Ice chills fast, but as it melts it adds water and the wine loses intensity with each minute. For an informal glass of light red in full sun, one large cube, which melts more slowly, is a reasonable way out. For a wine you want to smell calmly, better not.

The clean alternative is to chill the bottle. In a bucket of water and ice the cold arrives faster than in the refrigerator, because the icy water wraps the entire bottle, as we explain in our guide to Mexican sparkling wines. A few minutes are enough for a light red. Take it out before it overshoots.

06When does cold hurt a red?

When the wine has a lot of tannin, a lot of oak or a lot of years. Cold boosts bitterness and astringency, and a long-aged red served icy turns harsh and closed. A Cabernet Sauvignon or a Nebbiolo with a year and a half of oak asks for its 59 to 64°F (15 to 18°C). It is enough to take them out of the hottest corner of the house or give them a few minutes in the refrigerator if the afternoon is hot.

Overdoing it with a light red does not help either: below its range it loses aroma and the acidity turns hard.

The next time you visit a tasting room in summer, ask at what temperature they serve their young red and ask to try it a little cooler. And if someone at the table defends room temperature with the same passion others defend the decanter for everything, hand them the list of wine myths that make you overspend.