Serving wine is a ritual full of nuances. It changes slightly depending on the type of wine, the social situation, and even the dishes on the table. It is worth learning wine etiquette and using sommeliers' tips to serve wine with class. It's also worth learning how to drink it, drawing pleasure – and knowledge! – from every sip.
What wine for what?
There is no written code that explicitly states which type of wine from which country will best suit a given dish. However, there is no doubt that certain aromas, sweetness levels, tartness, or the heaviness of wines affect the taste of a dish, complementing it or even elevating it to another level.
In many countries where wine originates, it is served in stages – if dinner consists of various dishes, a different type is served with each. Starting with the appetizer, lighter, drier white wines, at lower temperatures and "younger," will most likely be poured first. For dessert or a hearty dinner, heavy, red, sweet, warmer, and longer-aged wines will be served. If the order were reversed, the appetite, instead of growing with the meal, might end after the first course, which is a sure way to offend the hosts. At the end, a small amount of heavy wine pleasantly warms you up.
Appetizers should therefore be accompanied by light white, or possibly rosé, wines, called aperitifs. They pair wonderfully with cheeses or cold cuts. They are fruity and refreshing, with no hint of alcohol. Here you can also reach for prosecco, various types of martini, and other similar drinks.
For a light first course, drier versions of white wines will be suitable. Light red wines can be served with the second course, featuring fish, meat, beans, pasta, or pizza. When heavier dishes appear on the table, such as venison, bigos, goose, duck, and other similar ones, or very mature cheeses and cold cuts, it's time for dry wines at room temperature.
After dinner, if dessert is served, you can reach for a very sweet, warming wine, preferably red. Cake, ice cream, sweets, tarts pair excellently with Muscat or Mistelle. A strong espresso coffee is a perfect match, which also aids digestion and eliminates the sleepy effect, allowing you to prolong a pleasant gathering.
These rules can be introduced during your own dinners, testing various drinks in many configurations with the dishes you prepare. However, when visiting different wine regions, it is worth relying on the waiters and asking for a local drink with a regional dish. Combinations tested for centuries – even if they do not comply with the basic rules of wine serving – can be a very interesting experience!
How to pour wine?
Properly pouring wine is a true ritual, yet contrary to appearances, it's easy to learn. It's important to remember that red wines should be kept at room temperature, while white wines should be chilled to a maximum of 8oC to avoid altering their taste. If the gathering is at home, they should be opened up to an hour before, and then the cork should be reinserted halfway. For vintage wines, this should be two hours before serving. This allows them to breathe and, consequently, release their full aroma. This process is called wine decantation. You can also immediately pour the drink into a decanter – a special carafe, from which it will later be served. This way, you save waiting time.
Specialized openers are a myth. Any corkscrew that the user finds most comfortable can be used to uncork wine. The bottle should stand upright on the table so that any sediment is not shaken and mixed with the liquid. It is absolutely essential to ensure that not even a speck of cork gets into the liquid!
A sip or two of wine should be poured into your own glass and tasted before serving to guests, to avoid pouring a drink that – although rare, it happens even with the best wines – may have turned sour. Its taste and aroma would then resemble wine vinegar.
Wine should be poured from the guest's right side – so that they can see the label. A bottle of white or rosé wine is held low and vertically, by the lower part, to avoid unnecessarily warming the contents. Glasses are filled to a maximum of 2/3 of their height, but it is better to pour even less. You should always start by offering to women.
Not a single drop should be spilled during serving. A gentle twist of the hand when uprighting the bottle can help. In case of spills, a cloth napkin or white, absorbent paper should be held in the same or the other hand (or on the neck of the bottle) to wipe away any liquid that might run down.
What to drink wine in?
There are many types of glassware in which wine can be drunk. The key is the overall shape, which allows the liquid to maintain its temperature long after pouring and concentrates the aroma, allowing you to fully appreciate it even before the first sip. Also important is the ability to easily taste just a small amount, as well as crystal clear glass, which allows you to assess the color. We wrote more about wine glasses and choosing them based on the type of wine here: How to choose glasses for different types of wine.
When travelling to Italy, you might notice that in this one of the homelands of wine, it is served – even in restaurants – not in stemmed glasses, but in... tumblers. Since this is nothing extraordinary in a country so attached to its traditions, especially culinary ones, it is worth learning more about the benefits of this way of serving wine. We wrote about this here: Tumblers instead of wine glasses
Knowing how to pour this noble beverage, how to pair specific types with dishes, and what to serve them in, the key information remains how to drink wine. Thanks to learning a few sommelier tricks, every sip will carry knowledge about the drink's composition and become an unforgettable pleasure!
How to enjoy wine?
Savoring wine is one of life's many small pleasures. By paying attention to the moment and consciously taking the first few sips, one can understand the thousands of years of admiration for this beverage and discern various flavor bouquets.
The first step is to hold the glass correctly – by the stem, not the bowl. This prevents the liquid's temperature from changing. The next step might seem inelegant, but it is very important from a sommelier's perspective – you should put your nose directly into the glass and take a short inhale. This will prepare your taste buds for what awaits them. After the first inhale, you can vigorously swirl the wine in the bowl and take a second, this time deep, inhale, which should provide even more information about the contents of the vessel.
When the first contact with the beverage makes a good impression, take a small amount of wine into your mouth and leave it there for several seconds. This should last exactly until the irritating taste of alcohol completely disappears and only the full, independent flavor bouquet of the beverage remains. It is then that you can try to guess which fruits this variety is made from, and assess its sweetness and tartness. Perhaps over time, after many different attempts, in addition to fruits, you will be able to detect more specific aromatic notes, such as spices, other types of alcohol, or baked goods. Sommeliers talk about hundreds of different aromas – many directly astonishing to a layman, such as forest floor, leather, or... game.
Although wine is not just for special occasions – just look at the fact that Italians, Georgians, French, and Hungarians drink it with almost everything – it's worth celebrating moments with it in a glass or tumbler. These moments are usually spent with loved ones, over a delicious meal and in a pleasant atmosphere, or alone, during a lazy, relaxing evening. When savoring the unique aroma of the drink is accompanied by a general awareness of the present moment, life truly gains flavor!