How to serve your wine ?

Tasting wine is more than a tradition, it is an art! But before tasting it, there are many things to know. Indeed, to put it in contact with the air by a passage in carafe is important. Having said that, we are going to give you all the advices for the service of the wine and its conservation.

Decanting or decanting wine?

Before serving your wine, the decanting step is mandatory to get all the aromas of your wine! But what is the difference between these two steps?

Decanting is an operation that is done in a decanter with a wide bottom and that allows the wine to be aerated by bringing it into contact with the air. To further increase the oxygenation of the wine, it is recommended to pour it briskly into the container. This process is especially intended for young wines to help them mature and reveal their aromas.

As for the decanting, it consists in separating the wine from the lees, that is to say from the deposit which forms in particular at the bottom of the bottles of red wine and which is a sign of quality. Decanting is indeed intended for older wines, even for exceptional vintages, which are more fragile.

To get more details and learn how to decant your wine, I let you see our article about this part: how to decant wine and what is the purpose of this operation?

After this reminder, we will see each step that follows before the tasting.

Food and wine pairing!

First of all, what is the best match between wine and food?

It is common practice to serve red wine with meat, such as game, which goes perfectly with it, or lamb.

However, white wine goes perfectly with poultry, as it is customary to serve white wine with fish, but when it is structured and aged, it will be more tasty to taste it with veal.

Dishes such as tuna or other firm-fleshed fish will go perfectly with a supple and tasty red wine.

Shellfish, on the other hand, will be much better with a white wine, as will cheese, because if it were served with red wine, the cheese would overwhelm the structure.

For dessert, white wines based on yellow and white fruits will be the perfect accompaniment for chocolate, praline or mocha based desserts.

The choice of glass

The choice of the glass is also of primary importance. The glass must be stemmed, curved and narrow at the top in order to concentrate the aromas of the wine. The rim, that is to say the part that comes into contact with the lip, must be as thin as possible to be tactilely forgotten in favor of the wine alone. 

You should choose a good crystal glass that enhances the wine and that can be used in all circumstances. We recommend our Wine Emotions collection for a wine tasting experience, Ultimate for young wine tasting or the Intense collection for white wines, fruity or red wine tannic and woody.

You will find all our glasses on La table d’arc, there is a hit on the collection of glasses that you will love to enjoy your drinking.

The temperature to serve the wine

Serving a wine at the right temperature is an unavoidable rule for an optimal wine service. There is no secret: each wine has its own serving temperature. Here are our temperature tips for different types of wine:

• sweet wines and champagnes: 8°C
• white wines: between 10°C and 12°C
• fresh red wines such as Beaujolais: 12°C and 15°C
• structured and powerful red wines: 16°C and 18°C

Be careful, it is better to serve a wine that is too cold than too hot, even if it means reheating it slowly afterwards. Respecting these rules of serving temperature allows the wine to reveal all its flavors and its potential. Indeed, for white and rosé wines, served too cold, they do not express their aromas. As for the warm wine, if it is served too hot, it loses the balance of the aromas and may seem heavy and mushy in the mouth.

After all this advice, all you have to do is serve your wine:

• Half glasses for red wines
• One-third glasses for white wines

And to taste it by savoring it!