Chilled cabernet??

[lcastenada]

I grabbed the wrong bottle, chilled it, and much to my surprise it was pretty tasty chilled. Does any one know what if any bad things happen to a decent cab when it is chilled??

[Ichewonthis]

Here is my 20 Minute Rule. I take white wines out of refrigerationfor twenty minutes before I serve them and I put red wine in refrigeration for 20 minutes before I serve them if they are at room temp.

[invinotheresverde]

If you chill it down to 60ish degrees, nothing will happen other than ideal drinking. If you leave the bottle in your fridge for a longer time, the only "bad thing" that'll happen is that you'll lose the majority of the wine's flavor.

[rtmonty]

If your reds are sitting out at your inside room temp (probably around 75 in most homes) a good rule of thumb is to put it into the fridge for 20 prior to serving. That will bring it to the more "true" room temp that is mentioned in other posts. I also like to use the same rule with whites that you keep in the fridge, remove them 20 minutes prior to serving them.

[Sam Fujisaka]

The ever balmy temperature here (Cali, Colombia) is always warmer than any French cellar and has us chilling our Cabs. Your chilling should depend on your ambient temperatures.

[Strawman]

I prefer most Cabernet slightly above cellar temperature low to mid sixties.

[The Old Man]

American's serve red too warm and whites too cold. Good cabernet should be served aroudn 62 to 65, as Strawman says.

[kingrex]

Not to be contentious, but how would you know at what temperature "Americans" serve wine? For my part, I find more fruit-forward reds taste better a little chilled, but I prefer the earthier wines a little warmer. With whites, I try to take note of the temperature at which a particular wine drinks best, so that I can treat it the same way the next time. I agree that many whites are served too cold; I just don't think it's an "American" thing. Rather, I think it's something done by the uninitiated - wherever they may be. :)

Best,
rex

[MMRuth]

I think though, there are a lot of "uninitiated", even in many, many restaurants in the U.S., even so-called high end ones. We routinely have to ask for reds to be chilled a bit before serving.

[Bill Hunt]

As I have dined coast to coast, doing wines with all meals after early breakfasts, I can add to The Old Man’s comments. Yes, there are restaurants/wine bars, that get it, but the vast majority do not. They seem to ascribe to the axiom that reds should be served at “room temp.” That’s fine, in you’re in a French Chateau, but not so good, where the temps are likely to be 75̊F. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve had a white brought out at ~ 50̊F and immediately plunged into an ice bucket. When I ask that the wine be placed on my table, the waitstaff usually mumbles something about “well, most customers want their white wines chilled.”

OK, these are generalizations, but they are made up of thousands of dinners with wines North to South, East to West. It is the common thread, that I have found in my travels. I do find that the situation is either getting better, or there are more knowledgeable servers in the workforce. Still, I find it to be the common faux-pas in wine service in the US. In Europe/UK and much of the Orient, things are far different. More care is taken, but it might just be that the rooms are much cooler.

I second The Old Man’s comments, based on my not so casual observations. I am far more often asking for the ice bucket for the reds, than I am for the whites. Oh, and I’m talking about some of the major restaurants in the US, not just mid-American mom & pops, or chains.

To the OP. The flavors of your reds will be muted/occluded if they are too cool. There will be no, or few, of the nuances of flavors. The wine will seem monolithic in nature. OTOH, we place our opened reds into the ‘fridge for overnight storage, so they are usually coming out a ~45̊F. In Arizona, it doesn’t take too long, once poured, for the wine to warm up. I often cup the glass with my hands to speed the process. Same as I often do for served whites – to warm them up.

Next time, taste the chilled Cab, and cup the glass for a few minutes. Taste it again. You’ll start to find far more in the wine. Wait a bit, and go back to in once more. More of the wine’s character will be revealed. For my palate, most reds do the best about 60-65̊F. My cellar is 55̊F, so I bring the wines up, open (possibly decant), then pour. By now, we’re about where we should be. If I decant, and the room is warm (we usually keep them ~65̊F Winter and ~75̊F Summer), I’ll just place the decanter into the ‘fridge, while I sample the wine. Yes, the wine in my glass will “breath” a bit more quickly, than the wine in the decanter, but then remember that I have to pour and then serve, so the two come more closely together.

Now, the biggest problem that I find with reds that are served too warm, is the “heat.” All of the alcohol is focused on the palate and retro-nasal. All one gets is alcohol – no fruit, no nuances – only heat.

Hunt

[Chefpaulo]

I'm relieved to not be the only one. My cellar (a converted colonial-era root cellar) is about 55 degrees. By the time I walk the bottle down to the house and open it, its about 58 to 62. Perfect for me but I thought I should keep quiet about it.