Opening and Serving

Wine is special, and to enjoy the full experience can be fun. However, what's required is a little bit of knowledge about the nature of the beverage and the packaging in which it's sold - and what you need in terms of stemware and accessories.

Most important when it comes to serving wine is that it should be at the correct temperature, and that it should be drunk from a good wine glass. But also to consider is the right way to open the bottle and pour the wine, what to do about sediment deposits, and decanting.

If drinking several different wines at one sitting, there's merit in not following a full-bodied blockbuster with something delicate in character. Obviously personal preference is a factor, and some people would rather start with the finest wine of the day and finish with the least demanding. That said, to give some general guidelines, the winelist should usually be presented in the following sequence: dry before sweet, white before red, light before full-bodied, young before old, red before dessert.
Correct drinking temperatures

Generally speaking and simply put, most red wines are best served at room temperature and most whites should be chilled before drinking. Trouble is, whoever first penned this rule of thumb was living in a cool-climate country in the Northern Hemisphere - room temperatures can vary considerably, and the word 'most' does not translate into 'all'. What is meant by 'room temperature' is somewhere between 16º and 18º centigrade - not 25º to 35º or higher, as per the summertime norm in a lot of places around the globe when there isn't an air-conditioner in operation.

The colder the wine, the more subdued the character of the wine will be - too cold and the nose (smell) and flavours will be completely suppressed. If too warm, the wine's characteristics will be accentuated way more than was intended - eventually to the point that you won't be able to appreciate the product as anything other than a hot beverage with a vaguely vinous character.

That said, wine coming out of a fridge or temperature-controlled wine cellar might be too cold to drink or it might need to be chilled further. Whereas wine taken from the shelf or cupboard invariably needs some chilling - a little or a lot. Ideally, the different types of wines should be poured at the following temperatures, given in degrees centigrade:

Sweet sparkling wines - 5º to 8º C
Dry sparkling wines - 8º to 10º C

Off-dry & semi-sweet - 8º to 14º C
Rosé & Blanc de Noir - 8º to 14º C

Unwooded dry whites - 8º to 14º C
Wooded dry whites - 13º to 16º C

Lighter-style red wine - 10º to 14º C
Full-bodied red wine - 16º to 18º C

Desserts, white port - 8º to 10º C

Dry sherry - 5º to 8º C
Medium cream sherry - 8º to 10º C
Full cream sherry - 8º to 10º C

Red Port - 16º to 18º C

Brandy - 16º to 18º C

Of course, once you've got the wine to the right temperature for serving, you then need to keep it there until the bottle is empty. And if you're trying to keep the mercury down, this is where those ice-buckets and single-bottle wine coolers/chillers come in handy - more and more people in warm climes are getting used to dealing with red wine in this manner too.
About opening those bottles

Screwcap? Fairly straight forward to unscrew - although, should it twist off too easily and you don't hear a crack as the seal is broken, be suspicious, as the wine inside will have oxidised if there's a leak. But since the artificial closure is still a recent phenomenon, what we're mainly dealing with here is the typical wine bottle seal - removing the cork.

Most wine bottles come with a decorative plastic or metal sleeve over the top of the bottle that carries the brand of the wine and also serves to protect the top of the cork, keeping it clean. This foil is sometimes easy to remove, but usually the top of it that covers the cork has to be cut off by using a knife of some sort, or a foil cutter (cutting wheels) designed specifically for this purpose. If the bottle has a wax covering over the top, you can use anything hard and sharp to dig or hook it out.

Pulling out the stopper can be a simple matter - if you have a good tool to remove it with. Without a corkscrew, there are ways and means to get at the wine that the desperate can tell you about. The point is that you need it, and preferably a good one. And most important when choosing a corkscrew is the screw itself, the spiral that goes into the cork - inserted vertically, straight through the centre of the bark.

Corkscrews with hollow spirals are best. Solid screws can be problematic with soft corks - they're less efficient and tend to rip through the stopper in the case of a tight fit or if it's an old bottle of wine. Preferable though not essential is that the spiral has some spring to it, slightly flexible rather than solid steel, and that it's at least 5cm in length so as to get through those very long, top quality corks.

You need to ensure that the cork is pulled out straight. Certain corkscrews remove the cork in an arc-type motion, which can result in breaking the stopper when it's half to two-thirds of the way out - it's best to ease the cork out slowly, rather than by way of a sharp yank. Some screws involve a two-stage or double-action lever method to extract the cork with minimal risk of it breakage - highly recommended. And you might as well have a corkscrew with a built-in foil cutter to begin the 'operation' . . .

Not that a corkscrew is of any use when it comes to dealing with sparkling wine - in fact you could do yourself an injury if you tried. Remember that there

is a tremendous amount of pressure inside those bottles of Champagne or Méthode Cap Classique, for example, and that great care should be taken when opening them. So serious are the accidents that have occurred due to negligence or ignorance when popping a cork that there are cases of people losing an eye as a result!

Actually, popping open a bubbly isn't really the way to go - doing so might add to festivities, but the correct procedure is to ease the cork out with a 'sigh' rather than a loud bang. After removing the foil, one should untwist the wire muzzle while keeping a thumb pressed down firmly on the top of the cork, which could start to come out as soon as the muzzle is loose. Then, holding the bottle firmly with one hand and the muzzled cork with the other while pointing it away from yourself (and anybody else nearby) at an angle of about 45º, slowly twist the bottle clockwise and anti-clockwise until the cork comes out in a controlled fashion, still held firmly in one's hand (you might want to cover the muzzled cork with a cloth after it's been loosened, before you start twisting it out, to avoid the wire cage scratching your skin). And keep the bottle tilted at an angle for a few seconds after removing the cork, to let out some of the gas that's under pressure without wine gushing out of the bottle and being wasted in the process.
Time to trouble-shoot

Once the bottle has been opened - if you have the time and inclination, and particularly if it's a really good bottle of wine or one that you are very interested in as opposed to just everyday quaffing wine - it's time to inspect a few things, to take a few precautions.

It might be necessary to clean the lip of the bottle of cork fragments or mould that might occur on old bottles of wine from humid cellars - a wipe with a clean cloth will do the trick. And glance into the neck of the bottle to check for sediment or tartrates - not necessarily a problem, so long as you don't end up with it floating in the wine once poured into a glass.

Have a look at the cork once it's out, and then smell it . . . If it's wet all the way through or has a wine stain running the entire length of the cork, chances are that it was leaking, and that the wine could be oxidised. If it smells musty or bad in any way, the wine might be tainted. On the other hand, shiny tartrate crystals on the cork or inside walls of the bottle won't affect the quality or character of a wine - in fact they can be a positive sign, indicative of a more natural, less manufactured wine.

Then pour a little of the wine into a glass. A look, smell and taste before it's served can save you some hassle and awkwardness if the wine's faulty or not to one's liking for whatever reason. Pouring out a little wine before serving it is also a way of dealing with bits of cork that might fall into the bottle of wine should the spiral of the corkscrew penetrate through the bottom of the stopper.

For red wine, browning can be acceptable, or not, depending on the age of the wine (if young, it's probably oxidised). The same goes for cloudiness or haziness, which can point to bacterial spoilage - as can bubbles, a no-no in all but sparkling, perlé and petillant wines - and 'sur lie' wines that retain more carbon dioxide from fermentation than most still wines. Whereas white wines that are pinking are the result of over-reductive winemaking, or oxidation.

If the nose is off-putting, sometimes this can be put down to 'bottle stink', a reductive aroma that will dissipate after a while. Of more concern is that musty smell or taste that can also be evident on sniffing the cork - if it's there it won't go away, and one should reach for another bottle to replace the 'corked' version.

At this time, prior to serving, it's also an opportunity to gauge the need for decanting, although for practical reasons one should try to anticipate such action well in advance of consuming the wine - thirsty folks don't like to be kept waiting.

Deciding whether to decant or not

There are two main reasons for a wine to be decanted from the bottle into a jug or a vessel specially made for this purpose before it is served. One: to aerate a wine that might benefit from a little more exposure to oxygen. Two: to remove the sediment deposits in old wines (or even not-so-old wines) that have been made to last and which didn't undergo much or any filtration prior to bottling - pertaining mainly to certain red wines and port-style fortified wines.

Some would argue that there's a third reason for putting wine into a decanter - so that you can serve a non-descript or mediocre wine to guests without showing them the label . . .

Jokes aside, there are wine lovers who routinely decant every time before serving on the grounds that either they simply feel that a beautiful glass decanter of wine to pour from adds to the occasion, or they believe that wine will always taste better as a result. In part, whether or not decanting will improve a wine depends on whether the wine is decanted a short or long time before serving. In part it depends on the type and age of the wine.

Allowing a wine to 'breathe' for a few hours or overnight before serving is likely to improve very young, full-bodied tannic reds - they can become smoother, more easy-drinking as a result. It's also said to soften tart young whites, and 'breathing' can be accelerated by means of decanting. However, there is little evidence to show that such aeration will benefit most other wines. There are exceptions, but the vast majority of wines are at their best within an hour or two of opening the bottle, if not straight away - especially those that are at their peak, in their prime, and which don't need much more oxidation before they start to fade.

Sediment comprises mostly tannins and tartrates - harmless but unsightly in a glass of wine, and you definitely want to avoid getting any in your mouth. If this is a factor in a wine, the bottle should be stood upright for 12 to 24 hours to let the deposits settle at the bottom before the wine above it is decanted, separating the sediment from the wine. Alternatively a decanting basket or cradle can be used, such that the bottle is kept horizontal when removing it from the rack and throughout the decanting process, keeping the deposits on the side of the bottle where they've settled as the wine's matured. While slowly transferring the wine, back lighting will help to show the pourer when to stop decanting, just before the sediment begins to follow the wine out of the bottle.

Decanting to get rid of sediment has to be done very carefully, lest some of the deposits rise from their resting place and become suspended in the wine again. Some then resort to pouring the wine through filter paper or cloth, but there's a risk that the filter might be tainted and that this in turn could taint the wine.
And then, about those glasses

If you haven't already done so, throw away those Champagne coupes and those small round goblets with thick rounded rims - these do little to enhance the enjoyment of wine, resulting in sparklers loosing their bubble too quickly in the case of the coupes and any wine tasting more ordinary if served in those goblets. You should also refrain from drinking wine out of glasses that are opaque or coloured, misted or sand-blasted - the same applies to ornately patterned glasses, albeit perhaps expensive crystal imported from the other side of the world. Essentially, what you want to avoid, wine wise, is anything that can distract or detract from the qualities of a wine, visual or otherwise.

Ideally, good stemware to drink wine from involves good clear crystal, thin glass bowls, thin rims, and basically, shaped so that the glass tapers inwards towards the top. For most red and white wines though, the opening or mouth of the glass shouldn't be too small - preferably large enough to nose the wine easily. The stems should be long enough to hold without having to touch the bowl with one's fingers . . . You don't want unsightly finger marks on the window to your wine, and you'd rather not be warming it above the right drinking temperature by clutching the glass in your hand - Homo sapiens being hot-blooded and all.

Long and narrow or tulip shaped is called for when it comes to sparkling wine glasses, accepting that the mouth will usually comprise a smaller opening than glasses for still wines - the mousse needs to be contained, and we want to appreciate the beads as those tiny bubbles stream up from the bottom.

Red wine glasses are traditionally slightly larger than those for white wine, though both should be generous in what they hold - fish-bowl size can be ridiculous, but capacities amounting to just three or four mouthfuls are just too small. That said, dessert wine glasses and those intended for port and sherry are understandably smaller, simply because these sweet wines and higher-alcohol numbers are served and drunk in smaller quantities than drier, unfortified wines. Not too small mind you!

And as regards the different shapes of glasses, variations on the basic theme touched on earlier are fine for most wine enthusiasts. Most, that is, apart from the Riedel converts - and there are many - who hold that different styles of wine, even different grape varieties, warrant glasses of different shapes and sizes to best appreciate specific characteristics in terms of both smell and taste. The shape of a glass can accentuate the aroma and bouquet of a wine more, or less, but the gospel according to Riedel preaches that how the glass distributes the wine inside your mouth can also be telling . . .

The same goes for brandy glasses and those for other types of spirits - each is best enjoyed from a glass tailor-made for the product. In the case of brandy, for instance, the wide-bottomed balloon shaped glass is classic in design, perfect for appreciating the spirit on the nose and for sipping from in sedate fashion.

Something seldom stressed enough is how important it is for glasses to be absolutely clean before they're used. After proper washing, thorough rinsing with fresh, soap-free water is essential (first hot then cold), and they need to be dried with a clean, odourless cloth - cloth that hasn't been used to dry the crockery or cutlery beforehand. Attention to detail cannot be over-emphasised - to the point that the glasses shouldn't be stored upside down on any surface or stacked in a cupboard that smells of anything (whiffs of varnish or wood sealer being a definite no-no, and certain foodstuffs impart smells too). Odours can taint the glasses which can taint the wines, and while a slick (an oily film on the surface of a wine) is usually a sure sign that that the glass or decanter hasn't been properly rinsed or dried, less obvious problems could prompt you to blame the wine whereas it might be the fault of whoever's in charge of the glassware.