A lot of the time your bottles of wine are stored at room temperature on a wine rack. When you're ready to serve the wine you may be unsure if it should be served at that temperature or if it should be chilled before serving.
The temperature a wine is served at is important in releasing the best aromatics of the wine.
The best temperature for white wine is 49-55°F.
Most refrigerators are set to about 39°F which is too cold for the majority of white wines. Dry white wines and champagne should be chilled in the refrigerator for about an hour and inexpensive, sparkling, or sweeter white wines should be chilled for about two hours to bring their temperature down a little more.
The best temperature for red wine is 62-68°F.
Since most homes are kept warmer than 62-68°F, many reds will benefit from sitting in the refrigerator for about a half an hour to bring the temperature down a little bit.
Another way to chill wine is to put it in a bucket with ice and water. This chills the wine more rapidly than the refrigerator. If wine is too cold and needs the temperature increased before serving, warm the wine gradually to avoid damaging it.
If you're not sure what temperature to serve a certain wine at, keep this in mind: it's always better to serve wine a little too cold as opposed to a little too warm.
