Today’s Monday Musing is about the topic of chilling red wines. I want to start by saying much like eating tomato sauce from a can, when I first got into wine and certainly when I lived in Italy, I would never have considered chilling a red wine.

Moving to the States, I began to see that some red wines can actually do well with a slightly cooler temperature. I don’t mean putting ice cubes into the wine of course, I mean keeping them in a wine fridge with a slight chill. I would have thought in the past this only worked with sparkling or white and rosé wines but I have notices that some red wines, even profound and important red wines, served a little cooler may be the right thing to do.

Last week I had an amazing Cesanese del Piglio with a friend for dinner. The wine itself was beautiful and it paired wonderfully with the Peruvian spiced chicken dish we were eating. It was a hot day but that’s not why the slight chill worked. In my opinion, the slight chill enhanced the elegance and the vertical nature of the wine and left the spicy, pepper, funky to come on in a second wave.

Some other red wines I might try slightly chilled are Groppello, Beaujolais, Roseese, and even Frappato. These three wines remind me of one another in terms of their flavor profile as well. Of course Lambruso and Bonarda from Oltrepo’ should be chilled a big too.

I also like the idea of some of the aromatic red varieties with a slightly cooler temperature – Ruché, Lacrima del Morro d’Alba, Bracchetto and others.

Just like the concept of never eating fish and drinking red wine falls away, so do many other thoughts I used to hold dear about wine service.

I am only really thinking of Italian wines here accept for Gamay. What red wines would you chill, if any, and why do you think it is or is not a good idea.

I look forward to your thoughts.