SERVING WINE

Serving temperatures

White wines are best served at cool refrigerated temperatures. However, if the wine is too cold the aromas and flavours may not reveal themselves, so be careful not to overchill. Removing a bottle of white wine from the fridge around 20 minutes before serving is a good trick. It s best to chill white wine as needed as long term storage in a standard refrigerator can diminish a wine s flavour.

Red wine is best served at comfortable room temperature of around 18 °C to 20 °C. In Australia and throughout Asia, however, what passes as room temperature could be a lot warmer than desired, so it s helpful to think instead of cellar temperature . The bottles should be cool to touch, but not cold if it s a particularly warm day cool red wines in the refrigerator for half an hour before serving.

Decanting wine

There are two good reasons to decant a wine. One is to separate the clear wine from any sediment that may have formed in the bottle as some wines mature, they can develop a heavy deposit, but this is completely natural and will happen to most aged red wines.

Another is to allow the wine to breathe , which may also benefit young wines without sediment as the process allows oxygen to come into contact with the wine. This oxygen contact opens the wine up allowing it to show at its best.

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