Warming whites? Break away from the ice bucket this winter | Hannah Crosbie on drinks

As the nights draw in, there’s no reason that the season’s bold, ripe, room-temperature wines need only be red …

We’ve all heard of chilled reds by now, right? Even so, it was only relatively recently that they became part of our drinking lexicon, and modern British drinkers realised that bringing down the temperature of certain reds by a few degrees made them sing and deliver charmingly pronounced, bright, fresh fruit notes. So much so that I now can’t think of drinking a light French red any other way.

But what if I told you the same can be true for – wait for it – bold, warmer whites? Common knowledge dictates that we serve all white wine from an ice bucket, chilled to within an inch of its life – it’s just what we do – but in reality that can kill a wine, particularly if it’s a powerful and/or aromatic example. Over- or needlessly chilled wine often prevents us from picking up on much of its aromas and, considering that much of what we taste is what we smell, you’re mostly going to end up tasting an unpleasant mouthful of alcohol and acid.