10 Helpful Hints About Serving Wine

1.  Foil: The foil cap should be cut cleanly around the bottle. If that is too difficult for you, remove it as discretely as possible.

2.  Serving Temperature (White Wines): White wine straight out of the refrigerator is too cold, but serving white wine at cellar temperature is a great way to taste it. After removing white wine from the cooler, let it open up and warm up on the table, usually for about 10 minutes. Or, if you have yet to chill the wine from your cellar, put it on ice for about 10-15 minutes, bringing the bottle down from 50-55 degrees to 42-44 degrees, the perfect temperature. Champagne should remain on ice and stay as cool as possible.

3.  Serving Temperature (Red Wines): Red wines also enjoy cooler temperatures. If a wine gets too warm, the nose becomes hot as the alcohol comes forward. The ideal temperature for red wines is at cellar temperature, around 58 degrees. As a general rule, if your red wine is at room temperature, I recommend placing it in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes before serving.

4.  Wine Ordering Tip: If you're a party of four, order two wines at the beginning of the meal (you'll be there for a while and would order two bottles anyway, right?). Have the waiter open the bottles immediately, but keep in mind that the best place for a wine to open is in the glass.

5.  Glassware: Nice glassware is becoming more common. If you are presented with glassware below your standards, ask your server, "Do you have any nicer glassware?" Often, restaurants reserve this for VIP's (Very Informed Persons). Ask and you shall receive. Some times there is an up-charge, but if you are willing, do it. Wine is so much better in good glassware.

6.  Corked or Fresh?: If you're the host, it's your job to approve the wine. Pour a taste, swirl it and smell. Do you smell freshness or staleness when the wine is opening? If the small taste you pour yourself doesn't smell very good, and you're not confident, ask your guests to see if they think it is 'off.' Just the fact that you know what to look for shows concern. It's better to offer someone else a taste, and then find out you were wrong. If you are in a restaurant, ask the server to check. They will more often than not bring you another bottle. I would try the same wine choice, as odds are that the second bottle will be better.

7.  Pouring: You've gotta swirl babe! Ask that short or small pours be offered, as a full glass doesn't allow you room to swirl. You can also ask to pour your own and eliminate the server's push to have you finish the bottle.

8.  Proper Service: After the server offers the host a taste, it is proper to pour the women first (oldest to youngest) and then offer the gentlemen (no particular order). The server should pour wine from the right shoulder; you don't want to reach across your guests face from the left shoulder. Look for servers that know better.

9.  No-No: Never turn an empty bottle upside down in the ice.

10.   Service Etiquette: Offer to replenish your guest's glass before it is empty. An empty glass can be embarrassing for your guests, as they may feel uncomfortable to ask for more.