Serving wines at their ‘ideal’ temperature can greatly affect the experience and perception we have about the wine and/or the meal it is accompanying. Below you will find a table that has proven to be both practical and helpful to me. It allows the wine tasting experience to be more pleasurable
| Wine Style | Service Temp |
Examples | Comments |
| Sweet Wine | 6-8°C 43-46°F |
Sauternes Sweet Muscat |
Cool temperature impedes the high acidity, high alcohol content & sweetness from overwhelming the palate |
| Sparkling Wine | 6-8°C 43-46°F |
Champagne Prosecco Asti Cava |
Bubbly tends to have high acidity, which is balanced by the cool temperature |
| White: Light to Medium body | 10°C 50°F |
Sauvignon Blanc Pinot Grigio/Gris Muscadet Alsace |
These wines tend to have high acidity and are normally unoaked; thus more suitable to be served chilled |
| White: Medium to Full body | 12°C 54°F |
High quality Chardonnay White Burgundy: Chablis, Pouilly-Fuissé, Mâconnais…Fumé Blanc |
Even though these wines have high acidity their body and susceptibility to express an array of characteristics allows them to be served at a lightly chilled temperature |
| Red: Light Bodied | 12°C 54°F |
Beaujolais Bardolino |
Their relatively high acidity coupled with low tannins make these wines taste better when lightly chilled |
| Red: Medium body | 15-16°C 59-61°F |
Premium Pinot Noir Ex. Red Burgundy: Côte d’Or, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune |
Avoid masking the delicate, fruity flavor of this wine with cold temperatures |
| Red: Medium to Full body | 17-18°C 63-65°F |
Rioja (Crianza and older) Bordeaux: Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot Rhône Valley Syrah/Shiraz Amarone della Valpolicella Vintage Port |
Cold temperature makes red wines feel thin and harsh. These full bodied, flavorful wines exhibit themselves better at room temperature. Bottle should feel slightly cool |
NB. In this context room temperature is taken to be between 17-18°C. Normal room temperature tends to be a little higher than this (20-22°C), so don’t be scared to put your reds in the fridge (about 20 minutes for full bodied reds). Just be sure to take them out, and let them stand at least 10 minutes before serving.
Ice buckets help to keep wine at low temperatures or to cool wine faster than a refrigerator. Fill a bucket three-quarters full with equal parts of ice and water, to fully surround the bottle with iced water. Water will accelerate the heat transfer between the ice and the wine bottle.
Hope this was useful!
Kitchen Nani 
Thanks for the temperature info and the ice bucket tip. Very helpful!
You are welcome! Glad it helped :)