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How to enhance your wine enjoyment

Phil Lo


THE IDEAL WINE GLASS FOR TASTING

To me the ideal wine glass for tasting has to have a bowl at least 6 to 8 oz in volume with a stem and made of clear glass and no colour. The stem is important as that is where you hold the glass such that your hand is not touching the bowl and your body temperature is not affecting the wine in the bowl. The wine poured in the bowl should not exceed 2 to 3 oz. This is important because this allows room for you to stick your nose into the bowl to smell the wine and also allows you to swirl the wine to increase the contact with air. There should be no colour to the glass such that you can see the colour of the wine and not be influenced by the colour of the glass.

I clinch every time I saw members of FOV pour more than 5 or 6 oz of wine into the glass and have to hold the bowl to balance the glass. Not only you cannot stick your nose in to smell the wine nor can you swirl the wine to increase air contact; you are also warming the wine in the glass with the palm of your hand! Please take your time to smell and swirl. You are missing out on the best part of enjoying the wine. You can always go back for the second pour!


TO DECANT OR NOT TO DECANT

Usually only red wines need to be decanted. It also depends on whether the wine in question is young or old. For very young wines, the only reason you need to decant is to let the wine reacts with air, to open it up. To me it Is artificial aging or maturing the young wine so that it is more enjoyable. So, in this case you pour the wine into the decanter with rigour. Gurgling sound is good as it increases air contact. For older wines which have a chance to mature in the cellar, there is only one reason to decant; when you observe that the wine has developed a deposit. The decanting in this case is to keep the deposit staying in the bottle and the wine in the decanter for enjoyment without the deposit. In this case, you pour the wine gently, as gentle as you can so as not to disturb the grand old lady in the bottle!


HOW LONG SHOULD YOU OPEN THE BOTTLE BEFORE SERVING THE WINE

From experience, I always open the bottle at least 10 to 15 minutes before serving, even for white wines. With reds, I find that opening the bottle for at least an hour and let the wine breath make for better enjoyment. I have on occasion open even old red wines for hours before serving to let it develops more before consuming.


THE EASIEST WAY TO SAVE LEFT OVER WINE TO LATER

If you are like me and want wine every night with your dinner but find finishing a whole bottle in one sitting a bit too much (or if Mrs is giving you the no go for the whole bottle!), here is a cheap and easy way to save left over wine. Find an empty half bottle (350 ml) and have it clean with water and dry. Pour half of your bottle into the smaller bottle and seal it with the cork that comes with the wine. Try to fill it as close to the top and touching the bottom of the cork to eliminate as much air as possible. Then turn your attention to the big bottle for your dinner enjoyment. The half bottle should keep for a few days for your next enjoyment.

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