Chilling wine – tips from a professional
Armin Tement grew up with wine and today manages the production and vineyards of the family business. Who, if not him, should we ask questions about the correct storage and cooling of wine? Exactly.
Mr. Tement, when you walk into the kitchen of someone you don’t know for the first time, can you tell whether they are a wine lover or not?
Yes, you usually recognize that very quickly. On the one hand, it’s almost immediate when you see a beautiful wine fridge that is hopefully well stocked. On the other hand, on the basis of the products. Whether it’s spices or oils – you can tell straight away whether you’re in the kitchen of a connoisseur. And of course wine is part of that. This goes hand in hand.
If you are planning a new kitchen – when is a wine fridge recommended?
I would actually recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have the perfect cellar. And nowadays you don’t buy a lot of wine at once for the next few years and then leave it lying around. Quite the opposite. Today, purchases tend to be short-term, but of the highest quality.
Storing wine in the fridge – is that an absolute no-go?
The most important thing is that the wine is exposed to a constant temperature. If a wine refrigerator is opened three times a day for one minute, the temperature will not change. A refrigerator is a different story again. I am a huge fan of wine fridges. Also because you usually have two zones and therefore the wine is always at the right temperature, whether red or white. And before you leave the wine somewhere warm and then quickly shock-chill it – a wine fridge is by far the better solution. I have many friends who don’t have a cold cellar and not much space in the kitchen, who simply put a wine fridge in the cellar.
And what temperature would you recommend for storage?
There are some very common tips for chilling wine: White wine 7-8 degrees is the ideal drinking temperature. Red wine 12-14 degrees. And champagne the same as white.
And how do I store wine properly?
It is important that it is dark and at an even temperature. The colder the better. And as I said: if you don’t have a large cellar – the best thing is a fridge, you can put 200 bottles in there, that’ll get you by a bit. Some of my friends now have four of them.
And you?
It’s a bit different for me, I don’t have fridges, I have cold stores – that makes it a bit easier for me. I practically live in the winery.
You deal with wine 24/7 – in which private moments do you open a bottle?
Of course, when you’re having Sunday lunch with the family, that’s just part of it. Or at dinner with my wife, when there’s something good to eat, a glass of wine is a must. That should be celebrated. You don’t always have to drink a lot, it’s often enough to have one glass that you’re looking forward to because you’ve been looking at the bottle in the wine fridge for weeks. It’s about something special.
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