Serving Wine

Its not a mystery How to serve wine? Just take a wine glass - one of those nice sleek thin stemmed glasses and serve. Thats it!!! Whats the big deal? But here I am having a whole post about serving wine and that's because I used to think the same until I did my little research on Serving Wine.

Here are a couple of things I found out that matter to wine.

• Temperature - As a general rule - whites are served chilled and reds at room temperature. We would all have seen a small bucket, filled with ice and a bottle of wine sitting in it - this can be used to get the bottle to the desired temperature in about 20 min.

• Opening the bottle - I have seen people make a big deal out of it :) and you can do too - It is a big deal!! Remove the metal foil using a sharp knife or special foil cutter ensuring that no jagged bits remain on the pouring surface. If its getting difficult to remove try pushing it into the bottle and decant the wine into a jug using a skewer or kebab stick to hold it down. If there are bits of cork in the wine, strain it through a simple kitchen strainer. Be especially careful with Champagne and Sparkling Wine as the corks can eject with tremendous force and cause injury. Always open these bottles at an angle away from you - and your best china. Remove the restraining wire and hold down the cork while twisting the bottle from the base. As the cork ejects, angle it out of the neck to release the gas slowly.

• Decanting - This step is required if you are using an old vintage wine that has been stored for several years. This storage creates a sediment at the bottom of the bottle which we try to eliminate while serving. Even if a little sediment comes into a glass, its allright - no harm done. But if you do need to decant, simply pour the wine slowly into a glass keeping an eye on the neck of the bottle. When you see sediment in the neck, it's time to stop.

• Glassware - The best glasses for appreciating wine are made of plain, thin, clear glass. The shape of a wine glass can impact the taste of the wine, and for this reason different types of wine are served in different glasses. A long stem allows for ease of swirling and the glass shape will trap and deliver the aromas. Holding the glass by the stem minimises temperature change.

The three main types of wine glasses are:
• White wine glasses: tulip shaped
• Red wine glasses: more rounded and have a larger bowl
• Sparkling wines: tall and thin - flutes

• Fill Level - The glass should never be filled more than about half full. It may look mean but you can pour as often as people require. You need to give space to swirl the wine and enjoy the aroma.

If you don't finish the bottle, most wines will live quite happily for a couple of days. Whites are better off in the fridge and reds left out at room temperature.