It’s Totally OK To Chill Your Red Wine

Dearest readers, I perspire as I write. The murky dregs of my iced oat latte condensate all over my desk. An ice cream truck just drove past my window practically oozing soft serve. Soon, happy hour will be upon me. And I cannot wait for a glass of red wine; perhaps a young, fruity Tempranillo to whisk me away from my labors to the greener pastures of La Rioja.

But do I want to be lapping at a tepid beverage right now? No, I do not. I would like my goblet of good juice served cool and crisp—the metaphorical equivalent of standing under a powerful waterfall after a long, steep hike in the high desert. I want my red wine and I want it cold. Or as they say in the biz, chilled.

The purists in your life have probably told you that red wines are best served at room temperature, unlike the whites, oranges, rosés, and bubbles we more commonly associate with summer. But experts agree: This is a misconception. Or at least, a very unreliable rule of thumb. In fact, most—if not all—red wines could benefit from a little timeout in the fridge.

Can you chill all red wines?

“You can and you should,” says Kilolo Strobert, a wine specialist and the owner of Fermented Grapes in Brooklyn. Room temperature is a fickle guidepost, she says, and varies greatly depending on where you live and what time of year it is. Her advice: Just about every red wine should be at least slightly cooled off to between 57 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit to eke out the most flavor from your bottle—especially during the summer months. (Too much heat can literally cook your wine, making it less fruity and more like a sickly grape stew.) But that doesn’t mean all reds fall into the “chillable category,” Strobert says, which she describes as the varieties that taste best served between 45 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Which wines taste better cold?

Typically, when you chill a red wine, some flavors are muted and others are enhanced, explains Roni Grinach, the owner of natural wine distributor Roni Selects. Fruity notes tend to become more pronounced, while tannins—the bitter and astringent chemical compounds in red wine—tend to “shut down,” she says.

That means the best reds to drink cold are lighter, younger varieties, like a Pinot Noir or Grenache. “These beauties are so freaking refreshing with a chill and are incredibly easy to drink,” says Josiah Baldivino, the owner of Bay Grape Wine in Oakland and Napa, California. Also, “red wines that are made with less skin contact tend to act more favorably to a deeper chill,” adds Strobert.

On the flip side, it’s rare that heavy, dense, or oak-aged reds—the full-bodied Syrahs, Cabernet Sauvignons, or Merlots you want to drink with a hearty winter casserole—are improved at super low temperatures, says Ginach. If you chill reds like this too much, “the wine starts to taste disjointed and incomplete,” adds Strobert. Exemptions to this rule, she says, are those bottles “that exhibit large, fruit-forward characteristics to combat the muted tannins.”

How should you chill wine without a thermometer?

The ideal temp for a chilled red is basically the same as a white, orange, or rosé, says Ginach: “cold but not ice cold.” In a standard refrigerator, leave the bottle for two and a half to three hours before serving.