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Wine Serving Temperatures
The temperature at which a wine is served has an immense impact on its taste. Serving wine cool will mask some imperfections--good for young or cheap wine--while a warmer wine temperature allows expression of the wine's characteristics--best with an older or more expensive wine.
A bottle of wine will cool 2 °C (4 °F) for every ten minutes in the refrigerator, and will warm at about this same rate when removed from the refrigerator and left at room temperature--the temperature of the room will affect the speed with which the wine warms up. If you need to chill a bottle of wine in a hurry, 35 minutes in the freezer will do the trick.
Decanting Wine
Decanting is pouring wine into a decorative container before serving. Decanting is typically only necessary for older wines or Ports, which contain sediment that can add bitterness to the wine. Wine decanters allow the wine to breathe and may improve the flavour of older red wines. Younger wines also benefit from the aeration and rest that decanting provides. But a wine decanter can also be used simply for aesthetic reasons.
Before decanting a wine that contains sediment let thebottle rest upright allowing any sediment to sink to the bottom. Then slowing pour the wine into the decanter keeping the bottle angled to prevent any sediment from making its way into the wine decanter. The wine can be poured through cheesecloth to help filter out any wayward particles. Decanting wine should be done out of the guests' sight.
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