Why so cold?
By Katie Pizzuto

Tasting white wine is a two-part ritual for me because I decided a long time ago that most times we drink our white wines way too cold. In fact, no one has ever been able to give me a valid reason for chilling white wine at all, other than to make it more refreshing. But, you know what? If I’m drinking a glass of Alsace reisling in December, in New Jersey, during a blizzard, I don’t want it to be refreshing…I want it to taste good. Truth is, when you serve white wine at room temperature, it reveals much more of its personality to you…you don’t have to dig as hard to unearth its aromas and nuances because they’ll pretty much slap you upside the head. So now when I taste a white wine, I first serve it at room temperature (between 65° and 70°) and take some notes. Then I chill it a bit, taste it a second time and take some more notes. And as it turns out, most of the note taking occurs BEFORE the wine is chilled…there just ain’t too much more to discover once the wine has cooled down. It’s kinda like the wine is naked at first, boldly and unabashedly revealing itself to you, and then, once chilled, it has put on its flannel PJs…you gotta do a whole lot more searching at that point, to get to the good stuff.

The move that always makes me cringe, though? Ice cubes. There have been times when I’ve gone to someone’s house, been offered something to drink, and asked for a glass of white wine. At that point the host or hostess will apologize for forgetting to chill the white wine, and ask if I would like some ice in it. Now listen, I understand putting ice in a glass of scotch…sometimes people actually WANT it to get watered down; they WANT to dilute it. But why in hell would you want to dilute your wine? Most white wine is delicate enough as it is. Bathing it in slowly melting ice cubes that have the subtle taste of 2-year-old frozen venison, bagged peas and tater tots will just about kill it. So I inevitably wrestle the glass out of their hand before they plop those funky ice cubes in.

The colder a wine, the less aromatic it will appear. If aroma is something we want to experience in a white wine, then it begs the question…why chill it? If I buy a bottle of wine for its flavor, why would I numb those very flavors? Now, of course, we’ve all been handed the occasional plonk at parties, in which case you WANT it damn near iced over…the aroma of red plastic cups and bad chardonnay is forever etched in all of our minds, I’m sure. But nonetheless, I’ll take my steaks rare, my broccoli steamed, and my white wine at room temperature, please. Why? BECAUSE I WANT TO TASTE IT, NOT KILL IT. I’ll leave the well-done leather, the boiled green mush and the arctic whites to those who like things “the old-fashioned way”—better to forge your own rules than be bound by someone else’s.