How to serve wine
May 23, 2008
If you don’t know how to serve wine at your first wine tasting or wine theme dinner, don’t worry. We would list five simple steps which would help you get the most out of your wine.
Open the bottle:
Cut off the foil capsule which is found on most wine bottles. The entire capsule can be pulled off or cut and removed. Next, you remove the cork using waiter’s corkscrew. Insert the tip of the screw at the center of the cork’s surface and insert the rest of the screw by slowly turning clockwise. Don’t introduce the screw all the way through the cork to avoid cork particles falling in the wine.
Serve the wine at the right temperature:
The temperature at which the wine is served extremely important, as it greatly affects both the taste and smell. Chilled wine will lose its smell (aroma), reduce its sweetness and increase its acidity and tannin. Warm wine will obviously have the opposite effect (more smell, sweeter, less acid, less tannin, more fruit). So one should choose a temperature which matches the characteristics of the wine, for example
Wine Style Serving Temperature (degrees C)
Strong red (e.g. Bordeaux) 16-18
Medium red (e.g. Burgundy) 15-17
Light red (e.g. Beaujoulais) 11-13
Full, dry white (e.g. a fine Burgundy) 13-17
Medium, dry white (e.g. ordinary Burgundy) 11-13
Full, sweet wines (e.g. Sauternes) 8-12
Champagne 6-10
Aerate or breathe the wine:
Aeration (breathing) can make younger wines more balanced and smoother by rounding their tannins.
Most wine lovers use a decanter, a glass pitcher with a wide opening. The increased surface area helps in faster aeration. Decanting young wines is easy: just pour the wine directly to the decanter and let rest around 15 minutes before serving.
Decanting older wines is slightly trickier because you must be careful not to pour the sediment.
You can also swirl the wine in the glass to aerate it.
Pour the wine:
Wine should be poured slowly toward the center of the glass. The glass should be filled only up to the half way mark so that the guest can swirl the wine without risk of spillage and enjoy the aromas. Finish pouring the wine tilting the tip of the bottle upwards and slightly rotating your hand, so that the wine doesn’t drip.
Taste wine:
Pour a small amount of wine into the glass and swirl it vigorously by lightly pressing the bottom of the glass against the table and follow with a circular motion of your hand while taking care not to spill the wine. By swirling the wine, you will increase the wine’s surface of contact with the air and allow it to release its aroma.





























