Food - Drink
The Best Way To Drink Chilled Red Wine
By WENDY LEIGH
Many wine fans and industry experts advise drinking red wines only at room temperature, although this is outmoded advice, and some reds really taste better when slightly chilled. The New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov's exploration into how temperature affects various red wines discovered that the chill factor is not as simple as first thought.
The tasting crew selected three wines and examined how cold temperatures affected them at various stages. The team refrigerated the wines for 20 to 30 minutes before checking the flavors three times: right away after taking them out of the refrigerator, 20 to 30 minutes later, and once again when the wines had attained a mild chill or were at room temperature.
Results showed the taste of red wine was "frigid and flavorless" when consumed immediately after refrigeration, but was still too cold after waiting 20 to 30 minutes. The emerging recommendation by the tasters and wine-industry reader comments is to wait 45 to 60 minutes after chilling for red wines to reach optimum flavor.