Taking the Temperature of Your Wine: How to Prevent Serving Heat-damaged Wine

You may have heard a guest declare upon returning from a vacation abroad: "Some wine doesn't travel well." They are right, and for two completely different reasons.

The first reason is subjective, but important. As a restaurateur you appreciate the importance of the right atmosphere for a memorable dining experience, and the enjoyment of wine can be very subjective. The righ glassware, proper serving temperature, remarkable service and even the right person to dine with contribute to the total picture.

Could it be that your guests' Frascati tasted better in a sunny piazza in Rome than in their kitchen on a chilly Cincinnati winter? The second reason concerns how the wine was transported. From the field to the bottle, wine is a living thing. It begins as a fruit and is born through a biological process -- fermentation. Like all living things, a hostile environment can damage it.

Imagine the juice of a summer peach. Now imagine the flavor in canned peaches. Heat transforms the flavor, right? Wine is very sensitive to temperature, whether too high or too low. Additionally, fluctuations in temperature can compromise a wine's overall freshness and quality. Just as you should expect your produce to arrive in a refrigerated truck, you should also set expectations for the manner in which your wine arrives at your restaurant's back door.

This article will follow the trail of wine from the producer to your guests' glass and the importance of temperature on quality and its ultimate enjoyment at the table. By the end of this article, you will be able to recognize damaged wine, and more importantly, avoid serving it to your guests.