Serving Wine

serving wine, involves a number of fairly obvious steps, but mastering each of them can maximize the pleasure given by any individual wine. See opening the bottle, breathing, decanting, glasses, food and wine matching, order of wines to be served, and leftover wine for details of these particular aspects of serving wine.

Perhaps the least obvious requirement of anyone serving wine is that they appear superficially mean, by filling glasses no more than two-thirds, and preferably less than half, full. This allows energetic agitation of the glass if necessary, and enables the all-important aroma to collect in the upper part of the bowl (see tasting).