True, I can see how for certain wines, simpler fruitier wines having them cool is better, as they appear less harsh with more focus on the fruitiness. Thanks for this precision. Cheers 🙂

I have done a few tests witth red wine (cabernet saugivnon). I did the sniffing, mouth wash whatever, and could barely smell or taste the floral aromas. I refrigerated it at whatever temp my frige is set at, medium I guess for several hours. I could smell the aromas and after the mouth swish, the different flavours were very noticable!!! And man o man soooo much better drinking it this way!! Now I know. Try it!! Let me know.

Hi Jessie, thanks for stopping by and sharing this story! What a curious insight!!
I am French myself, living in France again now. And I have to say that this is not common behavior at all in the country. This must be a family tradition thing.
Watering down wine used to be a ‘thing’ for my grand-parents’ generation (I’m 37) so 50 or 60 years ago. At the time, many workers and farmers used to water down the wines that they thought was a bit ‘strong’. But you have to know that at the time, many humble people would drink a litre or two of wine during the day. Most every-day wines were mass-produced and relatively low in alcohol compared to the concentrated wines we cherish today (10-11% abv.). So, someone coming across a ‘strong 12-13% alc. wine would dilute it a bit.
This behavior however became much less common during the 1980s, when French wine consumption started plummeting because people stopped drinking so much wine. Wine consumption in France has continued to decrease ever since to this day, as the French like everyone else drink less of better wines and enjoy more flavorful wines, with adding water.
Now ice cubes into $100+ red wines… you know, everyone has his/her own taste!
But it is not a common way to drink wine neither in Bordeaux (I studied winemaking and lived there for a few years) nor in Beaujolais. I have never seen it done, especially among fine wine prducers 😉
It’s a great story though. So again, thanks for sharing it 🙂 Cheers

Just something to consider.

I love good sparkling wines. I guess the bests are like good reds, best enjoyed without ice (yet chilled most generally) to enjoy the natural balance given by the grapes ? and the winemaker without diluting it. But for simple ones like most Lambrusco for for example, or cheap Aussie sparkling Shiraz, ice is perfectly fine fine, if not better to water down the sugar when its too high and make the wine heavy and not refreshing. Cheers and thanks for stopping by and commenting ????

Good Content. I enjoy reading. You are welcome to comment on my blog anytime as well. Cheers!

Absolutely agree Larry, this is all very good advise. Red is best just a little cooler than normal room temp (16 to 18 degrees if we’re talking Celsius) and let it warm up as you enjoy it. Cheers, thanks for stopping by ????