How many times have you heard "serve wine at room temperature"? Back in the early days of wine, room temperature was like castle temperature.  Cool and damp.  Now, we refer to room temperature as 72 degrees F, which isn't a proper temperature for serving wine.

When wine is served too warm it loses balance and the alcohol and tannins overpower other flavors.  Experiment yourself!  Try a glass of the same wine warm and one cool. Cooler wine is always better.

Appropriate temperature for every wine varies, but rule of thumb: for white wine, 15 minutes out of the refrigerator before serving; for red, 15 minutes IN the refrigerator before serving.

If you're in a real hurry, as I often am, you might chill your white wine in the freezer.  Be honest...did you ever forget to take the bottle of wine out of the freezer?  Yep!  I did too!  I carefully placed the frozen wine in the refrigerator and let it "thaw" til the next day. 

Amazingly, it was fine.  But a few minutes more in the freezer and there would have been an explosion and mess!                                      

Marie Griffin, Wine Supervisor North/West Florida

 Follow me on Twitter @abcwinemarieg