Tips for serving wine

You've probably heard many conflicting and complicated instructions throughout the years on the proper way to get wine from the shop to your glass. It doesn't have to be that hard. Here are the basics of serving wine, which are all you really need.

Many customs have accompanied wine drinking through the years. None of them are meant to be intimidating or stuffy. They are just practices intended to enhance the enjoyment of wine.

Such as:
• ‘White wine with fish and red wine with meat’ is more customary than culinary.

• Red wines are served at room temperature, while white wines, roses, and champagnes are served chilled.

• The stronger the food, the stronger the wine. The lighter the food, the lighter the wine.

• Wine loves air, which revives its sleeping flavours. It is recommended to open the bottle about an hour before consumption and let the wine ‘breathe’. This ages it a year or so, and allows its flavours to mellow.

• A bottle of wine has to be handled carefully, with the minimum movement possible. Remember, wine likes to sleep, only to awaken in your mouth.

• Red wine bottles do not need to be cleaned or dusted before opening. They are opened on a hard surface. White wines, rose, and Champagne bottles are opened in ice buckets.

• Red wine corks are sniffed to make sure the wine has not spoiled, which gives the cork an unpleasant smell. It is not necessary to smell white and rose wine corks since the wine was refrigerated and the cork will not smell.

Guide to wine glasses
Picking the right wine glasses for the right wine isn't easy when confronted with the bevy of wine glasses on store shelves. And trying to keep those crystal clear glasses crystal clear can be a maddening experience, too.

Choosing wine glasses
There really is no right or wrong glass for wine tasting — or for drinking wine for that matter. However, there are some glasses that are better than others for evaluating wines. Aesthetics aside, there are really only two things to remember when considering a wine tasting glass: the size of the glass and the overall shape of the glass.

The more universally used tasting glass is called a ‘chimney’ shape. Broader on the bottom of the bowl, it tapers upward to a smaller opening. The broader bottom will enable you to hold enough wine and give you plenty of room to swirl the wine, while the smaller opening at the top will help to trap and focus the aromas, allowing you enough of a scent to assess the wine.

Size doesn't matter
For the most part, if your glass is of this shape, the actual size of the glass is not important other than it needs to be big enough and have a big enough opening for you to be able to get your nose inside to really smell the wine. Some people swear by large ‘Burgundy’ style glasses that allow as much of the wine to come in contact with the air as possible, therefore releasing as many of the aromas and flavours as possible. Others like the convenience and ease of use of a smaller glass. Other considerations that will enhance your tasting experience include glassware that is clear (no colours) and free of cuts or engravings within the glass.

Many glass manufacturers have designed specific glasses for specific wine types or varieties, taking in to account different aspects of the individual wine type. While this is wonderful, it is not a necessary purchase for a complete wine tasting. The top producer of these specialized wine glasses is an Austrian crystal company named Riedel (pronounced REE-dle). They are exquisite and expensive.

Cleaning wine glasses
When it comes time to clean your glassware, try to avoid using soap. Instead use hot water and rinse thoroughly. Soap can become trapped within the glass and release soapy odours the next time you use it. Although you may become quite proficient at identifying various brands of dish soap, this ability and the soapy glasses that taught you will not add to the enjoyment of a good glass of wine.
To summarise, it's important that you find good glassware for your wine tasting experiences, but ‘good’ does not necessarily mean ‘expensive.’ Find glassware that you are comfortable with and adequately serves its purpose: presenting wine for your evaluation and enjoyment.