FRIDGE REDS
Sometimes you just want red wine, but its Australia and it can get damn hot. Luckily it is definitely OK to chill (some) red wines.
Here at Goblin we have a fridge load of natural, organic and clean red wines that taste super good straight from the fridge!
WHICH RED WINES ARE BEST CHILLED?
Light! Juicy! Fruity!
The wines that work best are lighter in style with lots of juicy primary fruit flavours. You want less aged secondary characters and less tannin. Some of the best are only a few steps richer than a rose.
WHAT ARE THE BEST RED WINE STYLES AND REGIONS FOR CHILLED RED WINE?
Low Tannin Grapes from Anywhere Really!
When it comes down to it any grape or region can make chilled wine. This is usually done by having less time on skins (less extraction, tannin etc) or by blending in white grapes. Tannins show more when the wine is colder so avoid tannic or oaked wines.
However some grapes and regions lend themselves to the style. Grapes that have less tannin naturally and colder regions.
In reality we also find that many of the producers we work with will have one or two chillable reds in their range. Often because that is a style they like to drink too!
Having said that, here are a few Goblin favourite grape varieties that work well chilled:
Italian Grapes
Corvina Blends (Veneto) Schiava (Trentino) Frappato (Sicily) Brachetto (Piemonte) Lambrusco (Emilia Romagna)
French Grapes
Cinsault (South) Gamay (Loire / Beaujolais) Grolleau (Loire) Mondeuse (Savoie) Ploussard (Jura)
Spanish Grapes
some Grenache (Everywhere) Listan Negro (Canary Islands)
Austrian Grapes
St Laurent, Zweigelt (some of them)
HOW TO SERVE CHILLED RED WINE?
The lighter the body and the less tannin the colder the wine can be. But don't go crazy. Under 10°C is probably too much. We usually serve from the fridge but give the glass a couple of minutes to warm up before digging in.
In Australia we usually drink all our wines too warm. A red wine should normally be sitting at "cellar temperature", which is in the range of 12 to 18°C, for maximum enjoyment. We will often give all our red wines a bit of time in the fridge before opening them.
WHEN TO SERVE CHILLED RED WINE?
Warm weather of course but not just at your hot euro beach party. A light chilled red wine can work great with food. The lower tannin and sweeter fruit mean the wines can handle a diverse range of foods, from spicy Thai to Japanese and fish.
BUY CHILLED RED WINE ONLINE?
Goblin sources wines from organic and natural produces from across Australia and around the world. We aim to be open about what goes in the wine, how it is grown and what it will actually taste like.
We deliver same day to Sydney local using our own driver. To other centres we ship using a temperature controlled courier service were possible.
