Master's Lecture: Reeze, the third runner-up of the World's Best Sommelier Competition, discusses how temperature affects wine - Sparkling Wine
Preface
I have always wanted to write or record my thoughts on serving wine temperatures as a sommelier. Inspired by Mr. Hiroshi Ishida, Japan’s national sommelier, I began to pay great attention to the serving temperature of wine. Before serving the wine to the guests, I will also measure the temperature to ensure that the best wine is served to the guests. I once held a sommelier dinner in Japan, and the guests that night also jokingly called me Mr. Temperature.
Vivant, a Taiwanese brand that puts temperature control first, has the same philosophy as my wine-serving philosophy. After becoming Vivant's brand ambassador, I have such a great platform and opportunity to share this very important topic.
Why am I so obsessed with controlling wine temperature? Throughout my career as a sommelier, I have always asked myself a question: Even if the same wine is priced at the same price, why would a customer drink this bottle of wine in the restaurant or wine bar where I work instead of somewhere else? Later experience told me the answer: experience!
When the same bottle of wine is served by different sommeliers, the experience can also be different, depending on the arrangement of the menu, atmosphere, service, wine glasses, sobering time, and the most obvious and important aspect: the waiter. Wine temperature! I believe that a sommelier not only serves wine, but also provides a whole experience. If a sommelier wants to stand out in the highly competitive catering industry, he or she must know how to provide an excellent experience, which starts with all the details.
I am a sommelier and a wine lover.
Although I prefer to enjoy wine casually, driven by curiosity, I will also do some experiments to see how the state of wine will be different at different temperatures. Just refrigerate a bottle of wine, bring it to room temperature when drinking, take a sip every time the temperature rises by one degree, and then record it.
This allows me to understand different types, grape varieties, optimal drinking temperatures, and experience that even a degree of difference in wine performance can be completely different. This experiment works for me, especially when I have the opportunity to drink some expensive wine. (Although there are not many opportunities)
Let me first state that I am just writing my own opinions. Everyone has their own preferences, there are no golden rules for enjoying wine, and I’m not preaching to anyone. Next, I will separate five articles to explain how drinking temperature affects the performance of wine. Sommeliers and wine lovers who are interested in knowing more can use this as a reference.
How wine temperature affects wine performance—Sparkling wine
I believe that many people must have an intuition: "Sparkling wine must be drunk with enough ice!" Yes, this is what books and daily life tell us. Sparkling wine should be drunk with enough ice.
But why is it "ice enough"? Zero degrees? one time? Four degrees? In addition, the world of sparkling wine is not complicated. There are different brewing methods, different grapes, different sweetness, acidity and aging time. There are huge differences, and the perspectives of appreciating them are also different. In this article, let us briefly discuss the serving temperatures of different sparkling wines!
First, we can approach this issue with different brewing methods. Basically, there are three most widely used methods of making sparkling wine, including the Champagne method, also known as the traditional method (Champagne method/traditional method), the Tank Method/Charmat Method and the original method. Ancestral Method.
Champagne method/traditional method
The most well-known and most expensive sparkling wine is the Champagne brewing method. Sparkling wines brewed in this way include Champagne and Crémant in France; Franciacorta and Alta Langa in Italy; Sekt in Germany and Austria; Cava and Corpinnat in Spain, etc. There are so many types that it is impossible to list them all. Since this type of sparkling wine undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle and is aged on lees for a long time, the style of the wine will be more layered than other sparkling wines, with more and more complex flavors and denser bubble texture.
First, we need to understand the effect of temperature on fragrance. The aroma of wine comes from the volatilization of aromatic compounds in the wine. The lower the temperature of the wine, the slower the aromatic compounds in the wine evaporate, and the less aroma we can smell. From this it can be understood that we do not actually need to be very "ice" to enjoy this type of sparkling wine. Books will recommend that we enjoy it at 6 to 8 degrees, and there is generally nothing wrong with this. But I will be more precise and suggest that some of the more straightforward non-vintage Champagne, Crémant, Cava and Sekt can better enjoy their refreshing taste when enjoyed at 6 degrees, and lower temperatures can also emphasize their acidity. But if you want to appreciate their fragrance, 7 or 8 degrees is more suitable. On the contrary, if the temperature is too high, this type of sparkling wine will lose its refreshing feeling, and the body and acidity will gradually lose balance, so I rarely enjoy this type of sparkling wine above 10 degrees.
Some sparkling wines that have been aged on the lees for a longer period of time or have a heavier body, such as vintage champagne, rose red sparkling wine,
Franciacorta, Corpinnat, etc., because we usually want to appreciate their more outstanding complex aroma and more mature taste, we usually enjoy them at 8 to 9 degrees to avoid weakening their aroma and body. There are also some Champagne sparkling wines that have been aged for several years. Their bubbles have lost a lot, and their aroma and body have become very mature. So we sometimes think of them as white wines, and these aged Champagnes can even be enjoyed at around 12 degrees, which highlights their complexity.
Large trough method or summer manger method
The sparkling wines brewed by the large trough method or the Charm trough method include the most famous Italian Prosecco, as well as the red sparkling wines Brachetto d'Acqui and Lambrusco from the same country. Sparkling wine brewed by the large tank method, which has lower brewing costs, generally has a fresh fruity aroma and a relatively simple and direct aroma. I prefer to enjoy its fruity and floral aroma, so I generally recommend drinking this kind of sparkling wine at 8 degrees to avoid being too cold to bring out its aroma. If it is red sparkling wine such as Brachetto d'Acqui and Lambrusco, you might as well enjoy it at a higher temperature of about 9 degrees.
original brewing method
Finally, there are sparkling wines brewed by the original brewing method. Sparkling wines brewed by this brewing method include the world's oldest sparkling wine Blanquette de Limoux and Bugey Cerdon, also from France, as well as the natural sparkling wine Pat, which has become very popular in recent years. Nat (pétillant nature). It is the easiest to enjoy this type of sparkling wine, because the sparkling wine brewed by this brewing method is fresh and comfortable, with a fruity flavor that is almost juice-like. It is better to drink at 6 degrees to emphasize the acidity and drink it in the most refreshing state.
There are also some sweet sparkling wines that have not been mentioned before, such as Moscato di Asit, sweet champagne, etc., which can be drunk at a lower temperature of about 6 degrees. Because the lower temperature will reduce the sweetness of the wine, making the acidity more obvious, making the sweet sparkling wine more balanced and easier to drink. Of course, if you have a sweet tooth, you can try it at about 10 degrees, and you may have unexpected surprises.
In the next article we will discuss the serving temperature of white wine.