60 degrees please

As many of you may or may not know, I'm all about traditional Beaujolais. Think Kermit's orginal "Gang of Four": LaPierre, Thevaunet, Foillard, and Breton. Now add to that Descombes, Desvignes, Michaud, Roilette, Tete, Trenel, and Brun. There are others, but these are my type of wines. They are wines- not cocktails- and they drink like beautiful earthy floral reds, not jammy banana juice. Enjoyment in them for me also brings up a good point. Temperature.

Wine, for the most part, is served entirely too warm. In just about every cave I've ever been in (and this includes the caves in Napa in July!) it is just about freezing. You are cold. You're lips chatter. You hug yourself while you taste and take notes. Wine likes this environment and wine tastes better in this environment as well.

If you read old Kermit offerings you will often see him refer to dinners at the Peyraud's in the Summer. Imagine that- Southern Provence in July. That's hot. And he would wax poetic about taking a couple bottles of the just finished Tempier vintage and "plunging" them into a bucket of ice. I often think about that. Tempier is the pinnacle of Mourvedre- one of the most hearty, masculine grapes found anywhere in the world and here is a guy making it colder; making it drink even more tannic!

The oddity is that the cold adds a freshness that young masculine reds love. Earthy reds love it as well. And additionally, it is my opinion that the true reason America doesn't understand Burgundy and/or the Loire is that the reds are not drunk at their proper temperature- which is to say 56 degrees (or only 24 degrees above freezing).

So, do this. Go buy a red. Something earthy. Something French. If you want to perfect the test, go buy a very good Cru Beaujolais (not from Dubeouf or Jadot!), open it, and plunge it into a bucket of ice water for 15 minutes. Play with the temperature. There is no right or wrong and remember that each bottle is different- as is always. But, it will bring some of the most new insight into your wine enjoyment; it certainly has for me.