White House Sommelier Advises Serving Chilled Red Wine

U.S. News & World Report's Washington Whispers column recently dished on what White House food and beverage manager Daniel Shanks has to say about red wine. In an upcoming issue of White House History (the White House Historical Association's semiannual journal), the sommelier advises, "Red wines need to be slightly cool to the palate. With the tremendous fruit and varietal purity of today's wines, one of the most damaging mistakes to make is to serve a red wine too warm. 'Room temperature' is a misnomer coined when homes were less well insulated and cooler. We can all remember sitting in a fine dining room, ordering a long-anticipated wine, and having it arrive the temperature of bath water due to bad storage conditions."