About a decade ago I had an epiphany while dining al fresco at a casual steak joint in SoHo on a cloying, 90-degree summer evening. While my date and I were sipping an 80-degree bottle of Cabernet a French couple sat nearby and ordered an ice-cold, sweat-dripping bottle of Brouilly, a village wine from France's Beaujolais region. When I asked the waiter why that bottle wasn't listed as "chilled" on the menu, he shrugged and said, "I guess the French just know better." Perhaps. But so should wine professionals -- especially those bearing the French title "sommelier." Ask any sommelier worth his spittoon what the proper serving temperature is for reds, and he or she will tell you "cellar temperature" -- between 60° and 65° -- not at 72° or higher, as is often the ambient "room temperature" of most restaurants, let alone on hot café sidewalks. Of course, at casual eateries where the reds are stored along the wainscoting, my level of expectation is usually in line with their pricing: affordable and realistic. After all, they're not serving bottles swaddled like newborn babies.
But at New York's crème de la crème, where the average price for a glass of red wine is $15, shouldn't they make a better effort to serve it at the right temperature? What's the big deal? Well, consider what the difference of five degrees could do to a juicy, rosy-pink New York strip you order medium-rare. Or, consider how do you feel with even the slightest fever? Overheated and off balance. That's the same thing that happens to red wine: Once it warms up past 65° it starts to taste out of balance. Once it hits 70° its taste breaks down into separate flavor components -- but most of all you just taste alcohol, which renders the wine hot and bitter.
So, why didn't the French teach us this? Who knows? Somewhere between the Old World and New a translation error took place that changed the language of wine temperature. Most Americans -- even those who don't even drink wine -- are sure of one thing for certain: Red wine is served at room temperature. This is nonsense. What to do? Plunge that near-boiling bottle in an ice bucket filled with ice and water. Try it after five minutes and it'll start to taste good, the fruit and acid come into focus. Five minutes more and it taste even more delicious and refreshing. Mission accomplished.