Opening and Serving Wine

Not long ago, I was watching the Fine Living Network on television. I came across an interesting program on opening and serving wine. Although this could be elementary for some of us, I thought it was a good review on the basics of temperature, glassware, pouring technique, and sediment.

It is pretty much standard knowledge to serve white wines chilled and red wines room temperature. The best temperature for white is cool, but not icy cold because you lose a lot of the flavor of the wine. Red wine is just the opposite, and should be served room temperature. If you serve it too cold you do not get to taste the all flavors or smell all of the aromas. Then again, if it is too warm, the wine has a dominate taste of alcohol.

Years ago, when the salesman came in to the store to sell us Riedel glassware; I thought that a glass was a glass was a glass. Then we did a taste test pouring the same wine in three different shaped glasses. Out of each glass the wine tasted different. Crazy but it is true. There is no question that the shape and dimensions of glasses changes the way wine tastes.

This pouring technique was new to me. Such a simple little trick to prevent a lot of stained table clothes. When you are about to stop pouring the wine into the glass, you should give the bottle a quick little twist and tip upright. This helps to ensure a drip less pour.

The last basic of wine serving is dealing with the sediment. Sediment usually comes from stored red wine. It does not mean the wine is bad. The wine is well aged and usually good. The substance is not pretty to see or pleasant to taste so it is important to decant the wine, separating the wine from the sediment. Let the wine set in the bottle upright for a couple days, carefully open the bottle and pour the wine in a decanter, watching to stop pouring before the sediment pours into the decanter.

By Lynn Schieffer (Wine and Spirits Manager)