White wine is served chilled, while red is best at room temperature – or so the mantra goes.
However, an expert has now blown this rule out of the water, with a new theory which states quite the opposite.
Joe Fattorini, presenter of ITV’s The Wine Show, has revealed the correct way to serve your red wine is in fact briefly chilled, while white should be left to warm up before drinking.
Joe Fattorini, presenter of ITV’s The Wine Show, has revealed the correct way to serve your red wine is in fact briefly chilled, while white wine should be left to warm up before drinking
The wine connoisseur even added that varying temperatures could cause the wine to expand and contract in the bottle, potentially ruining it.
Speaking to Good Housekeeping, Joe revealed we wine drinkers should follow the 20:20 rule for the ideal glass of wine.
The rule details that we should put red wine in the fridge 20 minutes before serving, while white wine should in fact come out of the fridge 20 minutes early.
‘Unfortunately many of us are serving our whites too cold, and red too warm,’ Joe revealed.
The 20:20 rule: The rule details that we should put red wine in the fridge 20 minutes before serving, while white wine should in fact come out of the fridge 20 minutes early
And further explaining that ignoring these rules could result in ruining the drink, he warned against exposing the wine to varying temperatures.
‘Varying temperatures makes the wine expand and contract in the bottle and eventually it can suck air through the cork and ruin the wine,’ he said.
Advising against keeping your bottles on traditional racks, he suggested storing them somewhere ‘cool, dark and radiator and window-free’.
Expanding on the rules for how to store wine, the magazine’s wine expert Alexandra Hale added: ‘Heat speeds up the development of wine (both opened and sealed)’.
‘So having an open bottle in the kitchen near an oven or radiator will mean it deteriorates more quickly,’ she concluded, backing up Joe’s advice on keeping your wine in a cool, dark storage space.
Top wine tips
- Store your wine somewhere dark and cool
- Ensure bottles are kept away from windows, radiators or ovens
- Take white wine out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving
- Place red wine in the fridge 20 minutes before drinking