While we may consider ourselves to be somewhat cultured and educated when it comes to wine, a new report released by Taylors Wines reveals that as many as 80 per cent of Australians are serving their red wine at room temperature. And that, friends, is a big no-no.  While it might be more than acceptable in Europe where the climate is generally cooler, it seems that for the land down under, serving room temp wine affects the flavour of some of our favourite drops from shiraz to pinot noir – and not in a good way.

With room temperatures in the average Australian home varying from 22-24˚C in the warmer months, industry experts (including the Court of Master Sommeliers) have announced that some of our favourite reds are being robbed of their true flavour and qualities.

Your favourite chardy isn’t immune, either. While there might not be anything more Australian than cracking open a bottle of white from the fridge, it seems we’ve been doing that wrong, too. Apparently, 430,000 bottles of white are consumed at the incorrect temperature every day. 77 per cent of us are happy to drink a bottle right from the fridge, with another 21 per cent preferring theirs directly from the freezer. Mitchell Taylor, third generation managing director of Taylors Wines, says it’s “an issue that most wine lovers don’t know is having a massive impact on their enjoyment and appreciation of wine.”

The solution? While there are dedicated fridges and storage cabinets dedicated to wine cellaring they’re not readily available to most Australians and that’s where Taylors have come up with an answer, introducing new temperature sensing labels on back of their bottles. Using thermo-chromatic ink technology, the label changes colour depending on the temperature of the wine, with green indicating your sparkling or white wine is at the correct temperature and fuchsia for when it’s the optimal temperature to crack open your bottle of red.

Label or not, chief winemaker for Taylors Adam Eggins recommends pulling your white wine from the fridge 30 minutes before opening and similarly putting your red wine in the fridge for 30 minutes prior to opening.

Now go forth and experience your favourite wines in a new and exciting way.