Serving Temperature
Serving your wine at the correct temperature is important to ensure you’re getting the full experience of that well-earned bottle of wine!
For most Champagne and sparkling wine, we suggest a serving temperature range of 8-12º celsius (about 47-50º fahrenheit). However, depending on the style of wine we are serving, we can break this temperature range down even further!
Simple, mineral, and bright styles of sparkling wine.
Such as:
• Non-Vintage Champagne
• Non-Vintage Australian Sparkling
• Sweeter wines
• Pet Nats
Bolder, richer, and more opulent styles.
Such as:
• Vintage Champange
• Vintage Australian Sparkling
• Old, aged wines
As you might know, this is quite a lot warmer than most refrigerators. A home refrigerator generally operates and is set anywhere from 2-4ºc!
So if you decide to cool your wine down in the fridge, make sure you take it out enough in advance so the temperature can rise closer to the optimum range of 8-12º.
Why 8-12º?
Serving your wine too cold (ie: straight from the fridge, or leaving it in an ice bucket) can dull the aromas and flavours of the wine, making it seem muted and flat.
Serving your wine too warm on the other hand, can make the wine seem less vibrant, and too heavy, particularly on the palate. The wine is also known for being a little more prone to fizzing over when opening your bottle when too warm!
Should I use a classic ice bucket?
Yes, you can! We also suggest that if you’re cooling your wine on ice, only keep it on ice for about 30 minutes while the bottle chills down to service temperature. After that, remove it to ensure it doesn’t get too cold.
How else can I chill my wine?
As we touched on earlier, you can certainly chill your wine in the fridge, just ensure you don’t leave it in the fridge for too long as it will get too cold. Our suggestion is to put it in the fridge for roughly 3-4 hours to get it down near the optimum serving temperature.
If you’re a bit of a wine nerd like us, we suggest investing in a good-quality wine fridge. Most wine fridges these days have digital thermometers and can even control humidity to ensure your wine will always be perfect and ready to drink. Some even have dual zones where you can keep your bright and fresh cuvées at 8-9ºC and your special vintage Champagnes at 10-12ºC, how cool!
We don’t recommend chilling your wine in the freezer. While it is a very quick way to get your sparkling wine down to serving temperature, it is fraught with risk. Bottles are very likely to explode if left in the freezer even slightly too long.