Serve wine warm or cold?

When I served the cold and lukewarm wines side-by-side, it became clear that this particular bit of folk wisdom is firmly based on reality.

The chilled white wine was refreshing and tasty. The room-temperature white had a riper, fuller aroma, almost like honeysuckle, but that advantage was offset by a soft, almost sweet flavor that made the wine seem cloying. The chilled white just plain tasted better; the cold actually became an element of flavor that seemed to snap the wine into focus.

The reverse held true for the reds, but here things got a little more complicated. The chilled wine showed almost no aroma at all, and it tasted odd and dank. The room-temperature glass tasted about as you'd expect of a modest country-French red: Fruity and ripe, a tasty match with Easter ham. But in between, while it still held a slight chill, the red tasted best of all.

My advice: Follow the rules, but don't take them too far. A good white wine is best lightly chilled, maybe around 45 degrees, but not so icy cold that it will stun your taste buds. A red, on the other hand, may be cooled just a bit (especially on a hot day). Chill it just enough to bring it down to "cellar" temperature -- in the 60s, maybe, not cold but just slightly cool.

Here are my tasting notes:

Le Jaja de Jau 1994 Vin de Pays d'Oc ($5.99) - Light honey and floral scents and consistent flavors show in this inexpensive white wine from Southern France; it boasts juicy, tart and simple fruit when served well chilled; nothing fancy, but serving well as an affordable table wine.

Le Jaja de Jau 1994 Vin de Pays d'Oc ($5.99) - This ruby-colored wine shows only a very faint, spicy black-cherry scent when it's very cold, but evolves into a good aroma of red cooking apples as it warms in the glass. It seems overly tart, acidic and short on fruit when it's too cold, but develops good apple and cherry flavors as it warms toward room temperature.