Serving Wine
Serving a wine correctly is important to ensure you get maximum satisfaction from your wine. If a wine is served incorrectly, the subtle aromas and flavours, which have been carefully balanced by the winemaker, are often spoiled.
The wine should be at its recommended serving temperature before it is opened. Red wines (particularly older wines) should be removed from your cellar and stood upright at least 24 hours prior to serving, to allow any sediment to settle to the bottom. You may wish to decant these wines to stimulate or enliven the wine and to remove any deposits.
Serving temperatures
The European idea of serving red wine at 'room temperature' works very well in cooler climates, but in Australia it could mean serving Shiraz or Cabernet at over 30oC in summer. This is too warm and ruins the experience of drinking a fine red wine. Serving wines above 20oC will accentuate the hotness of the alcohol and dull the freshness of the wine. Cooling your red wines to the correct temperature in the refrigerator for half an hour prior to serving is quite acceptable.
When serving white table and sparkling wines, beware of over-chilling and avoid storing them in the refrigerator for long periods of time, as this will tend to deaden the flavour. If wine is served too cold, bitter and astringent tastes will be accentuated. It is best to chill white wine, as it is needed by placing the bottle in an ice bucket with a mixture of ice and water for 30 minutes. Do not place bottles of sparkling wine in the freezer.
It is better to lean towards the lower end of the recommended temperature scale, as the wine will warm in the glass.
Guide to Serving Temperatures
| Wine Styles | oCelsius |
| Sparkling wine | 6-8 |
| Fino sherry | 8-9 |
| Light-bodied white wine, Rosé | 8-11 |
| Full-bodied white wine | 11-14 |
| Light-bodied red wine | 11-14 |
| Full-bodied reds & sparkling Shiraz | 14-18 |
| Tokay, Muscat and port | 14-18 |
Glasses
Glassware can have an impact on the taste of the wine. Try the same wine out of a tumbler and a fine, thin-walled wine glass. The wine always seems to taste better out of a good glass. Using special glasses can add to the overall pleasure and experience of enjoying a fine wine.
A good all purpose wine glass need not be expensive. It should have a total capacity of about 220ml and be slightly tapered or tulip-shaped at the top, which helps to concentrate the bouquet. After all, much of what we 'taste' is really what our nose tells us about the wine.
Glasses should be clear and clean and should be thoroughly washed and rinsed. If glasses have been stored in cardboard boxes, they should be washed, rinsed and dried before use as cardboard can impart a musty smell to the glasses and consequently the wine.
Opening the wine
Still wine
Cut the capsule on the ridge just below the top of the bottle and wipe away any residue with a clean, damp cloth. Insert the tip of the corkscrew into the centre of the cork and screw the corkscrew down well, taking care not to push through the bottom of the cork. Remove the cork slowly and carefully. Take extra care with older wines as the corks may crumble. If the cork breaks during extraction and crumbles, remove the pieces of cork by decanting the wine through a funnel with a metal filter prior to serving.
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wines have a tear tag on the capsule. Pull on the tear tag and remove the top of the capsule. Hold the cork down with your thumb (to prevent the cork from ejecting) while untwisting the wire ring, which holds the cage (muselet) around the cork. Remove the muselet, taking care that the cork doesn't pop out. Hold the bottle by its base in one hand and the cork with the other. Ensure that the bottle is pointed away from yourself and others. Slowly twist the bottle (not the cork) and applying downward pressure on the cork, allowing it to gently ease out of the bottle. It is important to hold on to the cork at all times. If the cork is very tight and difficult to remove, it can be removed with an aid such as a Strachan Champagne cork extractor.
Pour a small amount of wine into the glass, allowing the foam to subside before pouring more wine.
Serving the wine
A small amount of wine should be poured into a glass and smelled and tasted prior to
serving. If the wine is sound and free of faults it can then be served.
Pour the wine in a continuous action and twist the bottle at the end of pouring to prevent any drops of wine forming. The glass should be only half filled so that the wine can be swirled to heighten the perception of its aromas.
Which wine do I serve first?
There are no hard and fast rules when serving wine, it is very much a case of personal taste and matching wines to your menu. Light-bodied before full-bodied, white before red, dry before sweet and young before old is a good guideline to use. On some occasions however, it may be more appropriate to serve an older red wine before a younger one or before a full-bodied white wine.
Light to medium bodied wines:
Sparkling wine, Frontignac, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Colombard, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, Unwooded Chardonnay.
Medium bodied wines:
White and red sparkling wine, barrel fermented Chardonnay and Semillon, Marsanne and some reds including Pinot Noir, Merlot, Grenache and Sangiovese.
Medium to full-bodied wines:
Some Chardonnays, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, sparkling Shiraz.
Decanting
Why decant wine?
There are two main reasons to decant a wine. One is to separate the clear wine from any sediment or 'crust' that has formed in the bottle as the wine has aged. The other is to stimulate or enliven the wine by exposing it to air and giving it a chance to 'breathe'. During decanting, the wine absorbs oxygen, which acts as a stimulant and assists in bringing out the complexities developed during bottle aging.
Do all wines need decanting?
Not all wines need decanting. Most white wines and lighter bodied reds can generally be served directly from the bottle, but old full-bodied red wines may benefit from the decanting process. Decanting is recommended for red wines as these wines are not filtered and cold stabilised to the same extent as white wines prior to bottling - to do so would diminish varietal fruit bouquet, flavour and character. During the ageing process, the naturally occurring tannins, tartrates and other solids gradually separate from the wine, forming a 'crust' or sediment in the bottle. This is a natural, self-refining process of bottle maturation.
However, prior to drinking the wine, it will be necessary to separate the wine from the
sediment if the full benefit of the aging process is to be enjoyed. Double decanting is an excellent solution as it gives the wine a double dose of air and does not require a decanter.
Tools required:
A graduated litre jug, a good easy-to-operate corkscrew, a damp clean cloth, a knife, funnel (optional).
Step-by-step decanting:
1. Carefully place the unopened bottle in an upright position for a few hours (or a couple of days, if possible), to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle.
2. Place a mark at the 720ml level on the jug.
3. Cut the capsule on the ridge just below the top and clean off any residual cork with the cloth. Screw the corkscrew well down into the cork, taking care not to push through the bottom of the cork. Remove the cork slowly without disturbing the deposit. Clean inside the neck of the bottle with a cloth to remove any cork particles or sediment.
4. Pour the wine into the jug in a steady, continuous stream without stopping, and with a minimum of 'glugging' until the level of the wine in the jug reaches the 720ml mark. The remaining 30ml (containing the sediment) can be discarded or used to make gravy (as Grange Winemaker Max Schubert did).
5. Rinse any remaining sediment out of the empty bottle with warm water then pour the decanted wine back into the bottle, using a funnel if necessary.
6. If it is some time before the wine will be served, the bottle can be loosely recorked. This is recommended for very old wines, which may deteriorate quickly once exposed to air.
We hope that this information helps you to gain increased enjoyment from your wine.
