Serving Red wine

[jonbar.1]

Does anyone else have a problem getting restaurants to serve "Vino Tinto" which is not freezing cold?
I'm not a fussy diner but I hate the taste of lovely Spanish red wine murdered by keeping it in fridges.
I always ask for "Temperatura Ambiente". Occasionally they understand.More often than not they nod and then still produce a freezing cold bottle.Since the bottle is often opened when they bring it, it is difficult to refuse it as it will,to them,seem like we are being awkward or over-fussy.
Obviously,as this is a hot country,I'm not too bothered if it's served a little cooler than normal.Otherwise we sit holding our glasses for a while to warm it up.
At the end of the day it's difficult to be too critical when we have easy access to some beautiful Spanish wines at ridiculously low prices

[ashtondav]

In my experience red wine is served at room temperature except in summer months when it would be like mulled wine. If they bring a glass or bottle of tinto june to August cold it aint long before its warm!!!!!!!

[jonbar.1]

That is true Ashtondav. Although personally I like to enjoy my drink right away not wait for it to thaw .

[costakid]

I actually prefer my red a little cooler, not freezing but colder than room temp. For years I always had it at room temp then went into an Argentinian meat restaurant who insisted on us trying a cool red. I was converted from then.

[jonbar.1]

I agree Costakid.
As I mentioned in my initial posting: I am happy to drink it "cool" in a hot climate.
It's "straight-from-the-fridge" which I don't care for.

[jhonie99]

It's really simple.....they cool it to coverup the fact that it's goneoff or rubbish to begin with.

Add to the fact that Spaniards are very pretentious and jump on trends to show they're "cool".

I've drank loads of wine in Spain over the last 20 years. At least 1 in 5 bottles could be characterised as gone off.
2 out of 5 rubbish taste. The remaining 2 out of 5 good to drink. Price of bottles is irrelevant. The cheap, high volume sellers are more reliable than the expensive ones sitting on the shelf for years.

These days we prefer to buy a reliable 5 litre bottle, to keep us going, lol.

[Wicksey]

A bottle of Lidl's Merlot we've just had suggested a serving temperature of 12-15 degrees which is quite cool. In the summer we use a vinoteca to store our wine as our house reaches up to 30 degrees which would spoil it otherwise, and we set that to 14 and that feels quite cool. We usually always put the bottle in the kitchen to warm up before drinking. At the moment the drink is stored in the spare room wardrobe which has been down to 13 degrees so always needs warming a bit before drinking. A joven red wine is not too bad fridge cold though.

[costakid]

I've drank loads of wine in Spain over the last 20 years. At least 1 in 5 bottles could be characterised as gone off.
2 out of 5 rubbish taste. The remaining 2 out of 5 good to drink. Price of bottles is irrelevant. The cheap, high volume sellers are more reliable than the expensive ones sitting on the shelf for years.

I bought a bottle of Faustino 5 in the airport the other day, 9 euros but hand luggage only so had to buy airside. We cracked it open that night and it was lovely

[jonbar.1]

I've drank loads of wine in Spain over the last 20 years. At least 1 in 5 bottles could be characterised as gone off.
2 out of 5 rubbish taste. The remaining 2 out of 5 good to drink. Price of bottles is irrelevant. The cheap, high volume sellers are more reliable than the expensive ones sitting on the shelf for years

Blimey Wicksey you've been unlucky.
9 years we've only been served 1 "corked" bottle.( we've been served some which were not very good,but not "Off/ Corked"
Incidentally we buy a totally excellent "Ribiera"( Roble) at Mercadona for a ridiculous €3.85!

[jonbar.1]

Just to digress....re my last reply: When I try to include a quote in my reply, it appears as part of my copy not framed above with the quotation marks ( see my last reply)..... can anyone tell me why I am currently having this problem?

[chrissiehope]

Do you click the inverted commas on the top right of the post ?

[jonbar.1]

Cheers Chrissiehope.
Yes: I clicked the inverted commas, then I deleted the irrelevant part of the quote; then, under the bit where it says " [ quote ]" I typed my piece.
I have always done it this way and never had a problem until recently.

[El Cid]

You deleted the first set of quotes. I have corrected it.

Sid

[jonbar.1]

Nice one Sid.Thankyou.
I'm learning
Sorry to have gone-off on the old tangent guys.

[Wicksey]

9 years we've only been served 1 "corked" bottle.( we've been served some which were not very good,but not "Off/ Corked"
Incidentally we buy a totally excellent "Ribiera"( Roble) at Mercadona for a ridiculous €3.85!

The Merlot we like is 1.99€ from Lidl and is very drinkable. Our usual Rioja is Faustino VII for around 3.65€.

Some menu del dia places always used to give us a very chilled bottle of red as part of the meal, together with a bottle of Casera, so most people just made it into a tinto de verano. I wouldn't like a 'nice' wine being served so cold though.

[El Cid]

That Merlot is exceptional value for money and a very nice wine. A few weeks ago they had it on offer for 99c. We are now well stocked!

Sid

[Wicksey]

That Merlot is exceptional value for money and a very nice wine. A few weeks ago they had it on offer for 99c. We are now well stocked!

Sid

The Sauvignon Blanc in that range is also very good. Excellent value!

[jonbar.1]

That Merlot is exceptional value for money and a very nice wine. A few weeks ago they had it on offer for 99c. We are now well stocked!

Sid

Strewth! When you think that,in UK you would pay that for packet of "Walkers Salt & Vinegar"

[Cádiz]

When in Rome etc etc... what's the point as its an adventure... that's unless we do not want to adapt to our new life... there is a possibility they are right as the Spanish have being around the world like us...
In saying that if the bot €20 say what you need... if €5 bot enjoy the alcohol...