How to Properly Serve Wine

Wine is a fermented beverage made from grapes, enjoyed by cultures worldwide for thousands of years due to its unique flavour and aroma. The flavors and aromas in wine are widely depended on grape variety, climate, and winemaking techniques, offering endless tasting experiences. Wine is often categorized into red, white, rosé, and sparkling varieties, each with unique characteristics.

Some of the most popular varies of wine are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and others.

Pairing wine with food enhances both, as the right combination can elevate a meal and overall experience of dining.

To properly enjoy wine we have prepared a 101 guide on wine, its consumption, serving, needed accessories and more.

Wine Glasses

The shape of the glass does make a difference to the taste of the wine. The bowl of the glass should come in at the top. Some glasses will push the aroma towards your nose and others will dissipate them. It is more enjoyable to drink from a thin glass than a thick glass.

Red Wine Glasses
Red wine glasses should have a wider opening than white wine glasses, to allow for more aeration.

White Wine Glasses
White wine glasses have a medium-height bowl and tapered opening.

Champagne Glasses
The champagne flute is a narrow wine glass designed to allow the fizz to float to the surface.

Decanting Wine

Decanting means to simply pour wine from it’s bottle into decanter, carafe, or a pitcher. This is mostly done with Red wines. There are two reasons for decanting wine:

• To aerate a young wine to make it mature more rapidly
• To seperate the setiment of an older wine

When decanting a young wine you can simply cork it and pour it in the decanter. Pouring from a height will help to aerate the wine more.

Decanting an older wine requires more patience. Be careful to not disturb the deposits on the bottom of the bottle. Hold the bottle with a light behind it to illuminate the deposit so you can see if it starts to move.

The wine should be decanted from a half an hour up to four hours, depending on the age. The older the wine, the less time it should sit. For example if an older wine is decanted to long it will start to lose flavor.

Temperature

The ideal drinking tempearture for a wine is between 45 and 65 degrees. Wine that is too cool will have a muted flavor. Wine that is too warm will have a strong alcohol taste as the alcohol starts to evaporate at higher temperatures.

Wine Openers

There are many type of wine openers available, from the standard waiter’s corkscrew to the table top opener.

Corkscrews
Today’s corkscrews use a variety of new methods to make sure that a wine’s cork slides smoothly out of the bottle. The new Rabbit Corkscrews are the best available today.

Table Stands
The table stand provides a sturdy and decorative option in opening and displaying wines.

Foil Cutter
A foil cutter can speed up the tedious process of removing the foil from the top of the bottle.

Wine Accessories

Wine accessories enhance the experience by improving the taste, presentation, and preservation of wine. Items like aerators and decanters help release a wine’s full aroma and flavor, while tools like wine openers and stoppers make serving and storing easier. These accessories ensure you enjoy wine to its fullest potential, whether you’re a casual drinker or a connoisseur.

Funnel
A funnel can aid in decanting wine, making it much easier to pour, filter out impurities and help in aeration.

Table Stands
The table stand provides a sturdy and decorative option in opening and displaying wines.

Foil Cutter
A foil cutter can speed up the tedious process of removing the foil from the top of the bottle.

Wine Pourers

Wine pourers can reduce dripping while adding style and elegence to your bottle.

Matthew

An amateur chef, mainly cooking for friends and peers. Likes to drink good wine, too. Sous-vide apprentice. Prefers salty food over sweetstuff.