Strike the Just-Right Degree of Wine Cool

(WSJ) - ONE OF MY EARLY wine mentors, the late, great wine writer Alexis Bespaloff, gave me a brief—but nevertheless valuable—piece of advice: "If the wine is too warm, put an ice cube in the glass, swirl it around for four seconds then take it out." His suggestion became what my friends and I called "The Alexis Bespaloff Four-Second Rule."

Over the years, I've passed the A.B.F.S.R. along to every wine drinker I know—or, for that matter, anyone I've ever encountered who complained that his glass of wine was too warm. It's a technique best suited to an overly warm red, as cooling a white takes a few seconds longer, but it will make any wine brighter, more refreshing, more vivid. Where as warmth can blur a wine's character, the right degree of coolness brings the wine more fully into focus.

Unlike proper wine glasses or the act of pairing wine with food, wine temperature isn't something that most wine drinkers think much about. Even some wine professionals don't seem to consider it overmuch, judging by the service and storage conditions I've encountered over the years.

I've been in restaurants where the wine bottles were stored at a temperature best described as "balmy"—stacked over the bar or lined up under lights on some very high shelves. I've even been served red wine in a glass that was taken straight from the dishwasher to the table and was literally too hot to touch. (This happened at a famous steakhouse in New York.)