How To Serve Wine

Everyone wants a successful dinner party with great food, people, and drinks, so it's very important to know how to serve wine. Whether it's for relaxing a bit to release some stress or as an accompaniment to a delicious entrèe, wine can hit the spot for just about any occasion.

Essentially, there are four main factors that must be taken into consideration to serve it correctly, they are:

• storage conditions
• serving temperature
• how to pour and serve
• what foods to serve with

These must be taken into account to serve wine perfectly, so it's imperative that they are adhered to. After all, who would want to waste a perfectly good bottle of wine?

1. Your wine must be stored a certain way. Nobody likes it stale and part of knowing how to serve wine is knowing how to store it as well. Wine should be stored away from sunlight and, to keep it fresh, the bottle must be stored on its side. This is to allow the cork to absorb the correct amount of wine and plump up to restrict unnecessary air flow and moisture.
2. Different wines should be served at different temperatures. The consensus for this rule is that red wines simply need to be served at room temperature and white wines cooled. This approach, however, is a bit flawed because maximum taste requires a bit more specificity in temperature. Ideally, white wine should be served at 53?F while red wine should be served at 62.
3. As with temperature, different wines should be served in different containers. Red wine should be served in a glass with a large bowl for easier swirling and maximum oxygen exposure. White wine should be served in a smaller, tulip-shaped glass to prevent it from heating up too quickly. All wine should be poured calmly and carefully at the center of the glass; the wine should only be poured up to the thickest part of the glass, no more than halfway full.
4. Pairing the right wine with the right food is important. Matching the wine to your food can make the meal a lot better, but incorrectly doing so can ruin it as well. The most important thing to consider is if you like the food-wine combination then it's a good one. However, people generally match flavors; bold or strong food is perfectly matched with bold or strong wine. A light snack or meal can be paired perfectly with a light white wine. 

Tip: You can also decant your wine to enhance flavor by pouring it from your bottle to your decanter, but this step is optional.

Just follow these simple rules and you'll be able to serve wine perfectly for any social event.