Selecting and serving wine

For the new comer to wine drinking, there are some tips that can help make choices.  The taste of food can determine the wine to go with it. Wines and foods that belong to a particular culture tend to go together. For example, French wines go with French foods.

Appetiser wines are served as a cocktail meal before the meal to sharpen appetite.

Dessert wines are heavier and sweeter than dinner wines. They go with such items like fruits, cookies, pies, nuts and cakes.

Non-alcoholic or de-alcoholised white, red and sparkling wines are available in wine shops. They undergo the same process of pressing and fermentation except that they are filtered by a special process that removes alcohol.

Buying Wine

When buying wine, go to a good retail wine shop that sells a wide range of wines. Then, look for a knowledgeable sales attendant who can help to make a selection, bearing in mind what taste you want.

Generally, wines come in 750-millilitre-size bottles. Some are also available in a larger 1.5 litre bottles, which can be good for group entertainment. 

Serving Wine

Serving wine at the right temperatures will bring out their flavours. White and rose wines should be lightly chilled, and reds should be around 10-16ºC.

To serve a bottle of wine, just open the bottle and pour; most wines do not need to “breathe.”

Wine glasses should be filled one-half to two-thirds full to get the wine’s aroma.