Serving wine: all the answers to your questions!
How to serve wine properly
At every dinner party it's the same old story. You're well-versed in menu selection and food and wine pairing, but the question of wine service arises...
How can you avoid missing this important step? How can it be served under ideal conditions? When should a wine be decanted? Is the refrigerator a good or bad idea? At what temperature should wine be served?
Bref, we give you a few tips on how to prepare for the tasting!
Key points to remember
Is uncorking wine an art? You just need a good corkscrew!
To avoid contact between wine and lead/tin alloy, which could alter the taste of the wine, it's necessary to cut the cap. To avoid taking any risks with a recalcitrant cork stuck in the bottle, use a sommelier's knife with a wide spiral and push it in sufficiently.
Cooling wine, a bath yes, but not Nordic: The freezer is forbidden and only young, simple wines can be put in the fridge! A bucket, an ice bag or a basin with plenty of cool water will do the trick. For those in a hurry, ice wraps can be slipped around the bottle for an express blast of freshness.
For or against decanting?
Yes, but not for all wines! Decanting accelerates aging by oxygenating the wine. The decanter is your ally with a young wine, helping it to reveal its aromas. For older wines, decanting helps to decant them, but they are fragile and need to be handled with care. In any case, we recommend that you open your bottle at least 1 hour in advance, so that the wine can work right in the bottle without any further intervention.
Temperature, a question of balance
Too cool, it attenuates both the qualities and the defects of the wines so unless you're really serving a bad wine to your guests, avoid it. Too high, the alcohol will predominate and the fruity taste absent, so avoid that too!
To your thermometers!
Here's our advice by color:
Dry white wines and rosés: 6/8°C
Dry to mellow white wines: 8 to 12°C
Light reds: 14/16°C
Structured reds: 15/17°C
Fine bubbles: 6/8°C