Somebody has handed you a good Burgundy in a warm room and it tastes vaguely like a hot cupboard.

You are being polite about it.

Don’t be. It isn’t the wine’s fault.

“Room temperature” is one of wine’s more persistent pieces of outdated advice. The room in question was considerably cooler than your centrally heated flat.

Serve a delicate red too warm and the alcohol becomes more conspicuous, freshness recedes and everything begins to feel a little broader than intended.

Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and lighter reds generally benefit from being served slightly cool — often around 14–16°C.

Twenty minutes in the fridge can perform remarkably expensive-looking work.

Then we commit the opposite crime against white wine.

Straight from a very cold fridge, a good white can become aromatically shy and texturally rather less interesting. Many serious whites show more at roughly 10–13°C, depending on style.

You paid for the aromas.

It seems unnecessarily cruel to refrigerate them into silence.

And remember: wine warms surprisingly quickly once it reaches the glass. Better slightly too cool than already too warm.

Sparkling wine, meanwhile, has its own rules and generally wants to be colder.

So before buying another decanter, glass shape or small piece of equipment somebody has described as essential:

Try the fridge.

The cheapest upgrade to your wine may already be sitting next to the butter.