Serving Wine

You can add a huge amount of pleasure by ensuring that the wine you have chosen is served correctly.  First thing to consider is temperature.  Whites, reds and regions all benefit from being served at different temperatures (although it is also a matter of taste).

We will shortly be adding a temperature chart, but in the meantime, the basic rule is chill down whites and serve reds at room temperature.

Some wines will benefit from being 'allowed to breathe'.  The more complex the wine, the longer you should allow it to breathe.  A couple of hours will usually do the trick.  Rough red wines often benefit from being left to breathe for a few hours longer (and you can also chill them down to reduce the impact of the tannins).

Decanting wine will also help maximise the flavours in the wine.  Older wines with sediment should always be decanted.  Pour steadily into your chosen decanter until you see the sediment reach the bottle neck and then leave the dregs of the wine in the bottle.  There is nothing worse than getting a mouth full of sediment!