Frequently Asked Questions

 Chill bottle if required, decant if necessary.  Fill the glass 1/3 full if red, 1/2 if white and 2/3 if sparkling.   Holding the glass by the stem, gently swirl the wine.  This helps  release aromas, which should be smelled and noted.  Then sip, and note  smells and flavors again. 

As a general rule, red wines and fortified wines are best when somewhat cool.  White wine, rosés, sparkling and dessert wines should be chilled to highlight their crispness and textures.  Sparkling wines get an additional benefit from chilling: the cold traps the carbon dioxide.  To chill white wine, leave it in the fridge for two hours, light reds for 90 minutes, and full-bodied reds for 45 minutes.

Pouring wine from the bottle into a decanter before pouring it into a glass is known as decanting.  There are two reasons to decant wine.  The first reason is to remove sediment, which reds are particularly prone to accumulate.  The second reason has to do with oxygen.  Adding a little bit of oxygen to wine can help release complex aromas.  After decanting, let younger wines sit and soak up oxygen for an hour, and older wines half that time.

Red wines are made with darker red or black grapes, and fermented with the skin on.  They are higher in tannins and often paired with hearty foods.  White wines are made from white grapes or lighter grapes, and the skin is separated from the fruit prior to fermenting.  White wines tend to be crispy and tart, and go well with lighter meals, like salads or chicken.

There are six basic types: red (red grapes, high tannins), white (red and white grapes, low tannins, crisp), rose (red grapes, low tannins), sparkling (red and white grapes, carbonated), fortified (red and white grapes, extra alcohol), and dessert (red and white grapes, sweet).

Oxygen, temperature, and carbonation levels are the main factors involved in choosing a wineglass.  Because white wines need very little oxygen, they require narrow glasses and are seldom decanted.  Red wines require more oxygen, so should be poured into wider glasses that can expose more surface area.  Wines that are best chilled are served in glasses with long stems, that way the hand doesn't touch the bowl.  Champagne flutes in part are narrow to help preserve bubbles; white wines tend to be served in narrow glasses so that one can better smell the delicate aromas.