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Wine Basics
Trade secrets for serving wine
- Chilling. Chilling wine is a
good way to improve the taste of lesser quality wine. Chilling
masks imperfections such as exceptionally sour flavours, known
as "high acidity" or lack of flavour. Conversely, chilling very
good quality too much hides the subtle nuances and complexity
that gives it value.
- Nothing illustrates this point
better than Champagne. Lesser quality Champagne can seem
fine if it’s ice-cold while better bubbly is best served just
slightly chilled to bring out the complexity and balance that is
the hallmark of good Champagne.
- Wine glasses. Glasses are
important. Riedel is a brand of crystal glasses that the trade
often uses for professional tastings because they can enhance
the tasting experience. The reasons for this are technical and
have to do with the shape of the glass but they do work and are
not overly pricey so they’re worth the investment. I would
recommend a set of the “Bordeaux Grand Cru” glasses for drinking
red wine and a set of “Chablis/Chardonnay” for drinking white.
- If you choose not to invest in
Riedel, you can still enhance a wine by serving it in a glass
with a thin rim and a rim circumference that’s slightly smaller
than that of the bowl. The thin rim feels more elegant to the
mouth and the smaller rim to bowl ratio captures the aroma of
the wine. The aroma--or "nose"--of the wine dramatically
influences our sense of taste.
- Leaving a bottle open overnight.
Exposure to air overnight spoils the flavours of a wine because
it oxidizes. If you open a bottle for only a few glasses, an
easy method of preserving the remaining wine is to transfer it
into a clean, empty half bottle because it exposes less of the
wine to air.
- Uncorking before pouring.
The idea that you should open a bottle of wine to air an hour or
so before you serve is a fallacy. Merely uncorking a bottle of
wine only exposes the exposed liquid in the neck to air so the
amount of aeration is minimal. Instead of uncorking it hours
before serving, I would advise decanting it just before serving
the wine. The exception would be good quality, old red wines
that would benefit from being decanted an hour or two before
serving.
- Decanting. This is the act
of pouring a bottle of wine into another vessel before serving.
The purpose is to help the flavours come out. Almost all good
quality still wines will improve from this process because it
aerates the wine. If you don’t have a decanter, you can do the
same thing by using a funnel to pour the wine into another clean
empty wine bottle.
- Food and wine conflicts.
There are a couple of wine and food pairings that don't go very
well. Red wine tends to make fish taste metallic. And dry wines
paired with sweet food can taste searingly sour--including dry
champagnes--so a good rule is to ensure the wine served is at
least as sweet as the accompanying food.
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