When it comes to wine, enjoying it at the ideal temperature is crucial for enhancing its flavours and aromas and maximizing its taste.Too warm, and you’ll suck all the energy and vibrancy right out of it. Too cold, and you’ll dampen its aromatic charm and complexity. But every wine’s different, so knowing where to aim can be tricky, and serving wine at the optimal temperature can also be a matter of personal preference, so use this as a guide. Whether you’re a wine enthusiast or a casual sipper, understanding wine serving temperatures can elevate your wine-drinking experience.

Lucky for you, we’ve broken it down into six easy categories, from sparkling wine to big, bold reds and everything in between.

Sparkling: 3-6ºC

The best place to start is always sparkling. This one’s the easiest to get right. Sparkling wines, such as non-vintage Champagne, Australian sparkling and prosecco should almost exclusively be served ice cold, or 3 to 6ºC if we want to be specific. All those vibrant citrus flavours are at their best and freshest at ultra-low temperatures. The exception here is vintage Champagne, or any aged sparkling, as these are best served a little warmer to accentuate those toasty brioche flavours. Treat them like a lighter white, as you’ll see below.

Handy Fridge Guide: Chill for at least two hours before serving.

Lighter Whites: 7-10ºC

Just like sparkling, light and bright whites are best enjoyed at the colder end of the spectrum. The sweet spot is between 7ºC and 10ºC to lock in all those gorgeous fresh fruit flavours we love in wines, like our Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer. The lighter the wine, the cooler the temperature.

Handy Fridge Guide: Chill for a little over an hour.

Rosé: 7-10ºC

Here’s where things get a little tricky. Pink wines cover a spectrum of flavours and styles as broad as white. You’ve got your sweet, unctuous rosés at one end and your crisp, dry French style pinks at the other. In either case, refreshment is essential for rosé, so balancing sweetness and dryness with ideal serving temps should be the aim. For dry rosé, temperatures approaching those of lighter white wines will unlock all those fruity notes and round out the acidity.

Richer Whites: 10-14ºC

The easiest way to ruin a very nice bottle of beautiful oak influenced Chardonnay is to serve it too cold. Richer white wines are famous for their complexity and multi-layered flavours and aromas – things that seemingly go missing entirely at colder temperatures. Another tip with wines of this style is to skip the ice bucket. Plonk your bottle on the table to fully experience its unfurling flavours as it rises to temperature.

Handy Fridge Guide: Take it out 30 minutes before serving.

Lighter Reds: 12-15ºC

Red wines such as pinot noir, our cool climate grenache, or sangiovese can be at their best at the lower end of the red wine temperature spectrum. These light and bright varieties are emboldened by their crisp acidity and fruit-forward flavours, which is only elevated when served slightly cool. Serve them too cold, however, and you risk stifling all their deep, earthy flavours.

Handy Fridge Guide: Depending on the temperature of your storage and the drinking season, you may wish to chill for 15 minutes before serving.

Deeper Reds: 15-18ºC

The term “room temperature” has been around for centuries, and it refers to drafty old English castles that maintained a brisk 12°C in the dead of summer, not our modern and usually better insulated Australian homes.Room temperature, you see, isn’t exactly a set number. While it might represent the ideal serving temperature in somewhere like Bordeaux, Australia’s average room temperature typically sits above 20ºC – way too warm for wine. A short stint in the fridge will lock in freshness, and restore balance and finesse to your full-bodied reds, like our Black Cameron Shiraz, our Cabernet Sauvignon and our First Duke Reserve Shiraz.

Handy Fridge Guide: Depending on the temperature of your storage and the drinking season, these ones should be enjoyed at the higher end of the temperature spectrum.