February 25th, 2019 | Updated on April 13th, 2023
According to Forbes, America with 84 million wine drinkers is the world’s biggest wine market.
However, many people often seem to be puzzled about various aspects of storing and consuming wine. Answers to some questions that are asked all the time that will help you to enjoy your wine:
1. How Cold Should Wine Be Served?
Serving red wines at room temperature is perhaps what everybody advises, however, it is often missed out that the room temperature refers to European homes well before the advent of central heating, so essentially the recommended temperature is between 60-65 degrees.
You can very well put the bottle in the fridge and bring it out before the meal. White wines, on the other hand, are generally served cooler at around 50-60 degrees while sparkling wines, rosé wines, and crisp white wines chilled to as low as 40 degrees.
2. Can You Serve Red Wine Cold?
Even though cold is a relative term, depending on the type of red wine, it may even be served chilled. However, as a rule, most red wines that are savored for their fruitiness tend to lose out on flavor when they are too cold.
When this happens, you will feel that the wine is actually bitterer than it is supposed to be.
Notable exceptions are rosé wines available easily from Sokolin Fine Wines that most people assume are red wines because of their tint; serving them really chilled actually enhances their taste.
3. Is Adding Ice To Wine Recommended?
Adding ice to wine is not recommended; not only does it dilute the flavor as it melts but also transmits the various aromas that it has picked up in the freezer to the wine.
If you want to chill the wine quickly, keep wine wraps in the freezer till they are required and then insert the bottle in the wrap and you will find that in about 10 minutes, it has cooled down significantly.
You can also dip the wine bottle in an ice bucket or simply place the bottle in the freezer for about half an hour.
4. What Is The Proper Method For Storing Wine?
If you are keen to build a home wine collection, you will need to know how to store the wine bottle properly. Improperly stored bottles become vinegary and are a complete waste of good money.
If the bottles have corks, they should be kept on their sides or even inverted so that the corks are kept wet and do not let the air in. It is important to keep the bottles in a cool and dark place keeping temperature variances to the minimum and away from direct sunlight.
Storing white wines is not recommended as they are best consumed immediately after purchase and do not benefit from aging.
Conclusion
Learning to properly store and serve wines is fundamental to wine appreciation. It is all too very easy to spend a lot of money buying wines that are supposedly great on taste only to be disappointed because of incorrect storage or serving.
