Since each grape makes a different style of wine, which can vary from a light, white wine to an inky, dark red, serving can be confusing. For instance, do you need to decant wine? Should you open the bottle in advance to let it breathe before you drink it? Technically, each wine has a different serving temperature how can you tell what it is? Does any of this really matter?Let’s start with temperature. First and most basic: white, rosé and sparkling wine should be served refrigerator cold. Exceptions include nice bottles, like a white Burgundy, which will be easier to taste as it nears room temperature. Red wine is served at “room temperature” or between 60°F and 65°F. If you live in New England in the winter, this isn’t much of a problem. Come summertime, especially if you don’t have air conditioning in your tiny Beacon Street apartment, your bottles are probably nearing 80°F. Warm red wine is no fun to drink, so put the bottle in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before you open it or put it in an ice bath for 10 minutes. This will make a significant difference in even the least expensive bottles wines.

Next up is oxygen. Initially, oxygen can be a wine’s friend, allowing it to “open up” or mellow out the coarse, gritty taste known as tannins. However, after an hour or two, most inexpensive red wines will deteriorate rapidly and continue to do so until the flavor is sucked out and replaced with a bland taste. By the next day, most wines will still be drinkable but there will be a noticeable flavor difference. Different wines react to oxygen in different ways, so making a generalization is difficult but the bigger red wines, cabernets, merlots, malbec and zins, often benefit from some breathing time.

Regarding “breathing” technique, some claim that simply opening the cork and letting the wine sit is ineffective. They say the amount of oxygen that can mix with the wine through the tiny neck of a bottle is insignificant. Although the laws of physics are against us, in my experience this technique does work. Letting a full bodied red sit opened, especially one of some age and quality, can have a very positive effect on the wine.

Finally, there is the process of decanting a wine. The process is primarily for expensive and older bottles of red wine with a lot of sediment. Sediment is the red grit which appears in older and more full bodied wines. As fine red wine ages, the tannins mellow out and sediment forms. If these wines are poured into a decanter first, they can sit, which aids in separating the sediment from the wine. I would like to point out that I do not own a decanter, nor have I ever decanted a bottle of wine in my life. There is no reason to decant a $12 Australian shiraz or anything by Little Penguin. Decanting the wrong wine will most likely do nothing at all, or worst case, kill the flavors that are present. It’s like eating Kraft mac and cheese on fine china with a silver fork. My general rule for decanting wine is this: unless a knowledgeable oenophile tells you specifically to decant a nice bottle of wine, don’t bother.

Low on Time?

Getting a promotion, passing a big exam or forgetting a birthday all call for a celebratory, spur of the moment bottle of Champagne. While you may find the bottle you’re looking for in your local store, it may not always be cold. The most efficient and quickest way to get those bubbles to the right temperature is to make a bath of ice and water. A tall bucket – I use my Ikea wastepaper basket – with a mixture of half ice and half water will chill a bottle of Champagne in 20– 30 minutes; white wine will take even less time. The water is a key ingredient because it increases the surface area making your bottle cold enough in time to pop and spray all over your friends.