Cooling Shock for Bottled Wine. How Dramatic Is This before Tasting?

Abstract

Adjusting the wine temperature is a routine procedure before opening a wine bottle. In many situations wine requires quick cooling, which occasionally raises disturbing questions among consumers and wine professionals. In particular, there are certain concerns that too rapid cooling of wine for some reasons may negatively affect its sensory characteristics and compromise the wine evaluation. To scientifically confirm of disprove this myth, we conducted a sensory analysis of six wines, cooled slowly in a refrigerator and quickly in an ice–water–salt mixture. Two sparkling wines, two white, and two red still wines with different aroma profiles were included in the research. Results of the triangle tests and 3-AFC tests demonstrated no perceivable differences between the quickly and slowly cooled wine samples. These outcomes may be useful for scientists, who perform wine sensory evaluations, as well as wine producers, experts, and the foodservice industry in general.