Welcome to the fifth part of Wine for beginners: Getting started. You have already learned to look at, smell and taste wine, and to know its building blocks. Now we turn to something that can lift any bottle without costing an extra penny, namely the way you serve it.
Temperature, glasses and a possible trip to a decanter might sound like details. But it is often the difference between a wine that seems closed and dull, and the same wine that suddenly unfolds and becomes a pleasure. The good news is that you do not need fancy equipment. You just need to know a few simple things.
What you will learn
- How temperature changes what you taste in the glass
- What the glass actually does for the experience
- When it makes sense to decant, and when you can safely skip it
- A few simple tricks to open the bottle calmly
The right serving temperature
Temperature is the most overlooked trick in the book. The same wine tastes different depending on how cold it is. Cool brings out the freshness and acidity, while a slightly warmer wine seems rounder and fuller. Think of how a cold soda tastes sharper than one that has gone lukewarm.
A good rule of thumb: most white wines and sparkling wines benefit from being properly cool, so they seem fresh and crisp. Red wines are served a little warmer, but rarely as warm as an ordinary heated room. Many Danes actually serve their red wine too warm. If the bottle stands on the kitchen counter on a summer day, it quickly gets too warm, and then the alcohol can suddenly take up more space than it should.
A practical tip: take the white wine out of the fridge a quarter of an hour before you pour, and give the red wine a little trip in the fridge for twenty minutes if it is standing too warm. That way you often hit a pleasant middle ground. If the wine gets too cold, it hides its aroma. If it gets too warm, it loses its freshness. A little cooler is usually the safe route.
Does the glass matter?
Yes, actually quite a lot, but not in the way many people think. You do not need a cabinet full of different glasses for each type of wine. The most important thing is that the glass has a reasonable size and narrows slightly at the top.
Why? Because a large part of what we call taste is really aroma. A glass that is wider in the middle and narrower at the top gathers the aromas and leads them up toward your nose, so you get more out of the wine. A small glass filled to the brim does the opposite.
That is also why there is a reason you only pour a third to a half full. It leaves room for the aromas to unfold, and makes it easier to swirl the wine around. For sparkling wine a tall, narrow glass is nice, because it shows off the fine bubbles, but an ordinary wine glass works fine if you want the most aroma. A clear, thin glass on a stem is a good all-rounder, and that stem is practical: if you hold the foot instead of the bowl itself, your hand does not warm the wine.
When should you decant?
To decant simply means to pour the wine into a carafe before you serve it. It sounds solemn, but the purpose is simple. There are two reasons to do it.
The first is air. Some young, powerful red wines seem closed when the bottle has just been opened. A little contact with air can open them up, so the aroma comes forward and the taste softens a little. Think of it like letting a pot sit and rest, so the flavours come into their own.
The second reason is sediment. Older red wines may have formed a little sediment at the bottom of the bottle. It is completely natural and not a sign of a fault, but it is nice to leave it behind. Here you carefully pour off the wine, so the cloudy part stays in the bottle.
So should you always decant? No. Most everyday wines are fine straight from the bottle. If you want to give a young, powerful red wine a helping hand, you can simply open the bottle a little in advance or swirl the wine around well in the glass. That gives many of the same benefits. Decanting is a tool, not a duty.
Opening the bottle
The opening itself is rarely dramatic, but a few moves make it calmer. For an ordinary cork, you cut the foil off just below the little lip at the top, set the corkscrew in the centre and pull slowly and straight up. A screw cap is just as fine, and says nothing about the quality.
Sparkling wine requires a little thought, because it is under pressure. Keep one hand over the cork while you loosen the wire cage, and hold the bottle slightly tilted away from yourself and others. Turn the bottle itself, not the cork, and let the cork come out with a soft hiss instead of a bang. That preserves more of the fine bubbles, and it is both nicer and safer.
In short
- Temperature changes the taste: cool brings out freshness, warmer makes the wine rounder. Most people serve red wine too warm.
- The glass gathers the aromas. A reasonably large glass with a stem, filled a third to a half, is a good all-rounder.
- Decanting helps young, powerful red wines with air and holds back sediment in older wines. It is rarely necessary for everyday drinking.
- Hold the stem so you do not warm the wine, and open sparkling wine calmly by turning the bottle.
Frequently asked questions
Should white wine always be ice cold?
No. If it is too cold, it hides its aroma and taste. Feel free to take it out of the fridge a quarter of an hour before serving, and you will get more out of it.
Does the wine get better with an expensive carafe?
It is not the carafe itself, but the contact with air and the leaving behind of sediment, that makes the difference. A simple jug can do the same job for a young red wine.
Ready for the next step?
Now you have a handle on serving the wine so it shows its best side. The next natural question is how you look after the bottles, and what you do with one that is already open. We look at that in the next part, How to store wine (and how long does an open bottle last).
And remember: the most important thing is not to hit the perfect degree or exactly the right glass. The best serving is the one that lets you enjoy the wine with the food you feel like having. Feel free to drop by our selection and find a bottle you would like to try your new moves on.