Our tasting tips
Serving wine
Serving wine is first and foremost about entertaining so just relax and enjoy yourself! Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your wine: Find out more about how to serve wine
Top tips
Given that wine soon gets warm in a glass, it's best to serve it too chilled than not chilled enough.
If you want to serve with style then all you need is a drip stopper, foil cutter, a corkscrew with a fairly long worm and lever! Actually, you serve wine on the right!
Before you serve your guests, always serve a little taster to the first guest to check the bottle isn't corked.
Choosing the right glasses
In terms of glassware, a stem glass with a wide bowl that tapers at the top is a must to air then concentrate the aromas. But you can play around and make the table look fun: serving Bergerac Rosé in a tapas glass is cute!
Always provide a glass of water.
Consider an opaque black glass to jazz up the table and tasting experience: tasting blind makes it hard to tell the difference between white and red wine. You'll blow your friends' minds!
Fill the glasses a thirdful, half-full is the max because you need to leave room to release the aromas.
Serving white or rosé wine
Dry, sweet white wine and rosé: serve between 10 and 12°C.
Four golden rules for a good cellar
A good cellar is important!
Whether you live in an apartment or house, when it comes to ageing your wine, ideally you should have a well-insulated cellar or a wine cooler if you don’t have a cellar. (add) (ageing, serving etc.) subject to your home: wine ageing cabinet etc.
Darkness, to stop the wine spoiling in sunlight.
Humidity, ideally 70% otherwise the wine will evaporate through the cork.
Temperature, between 12° and 14°. Wine doesn't like differences in temperature which can spoil them or stop them ageing naturally.
Horizontal storage so the wine moistens the cork to stop it drying out.
Serving red wine
Light and fruity wine is best served chilled (up to 2 hours in the fridge before opening) whilst fuller-bodied wine with more tannins is best a little warmer (warm up slowly to approx. 18°C).
Open your bottle 10-15 minutes before serving your wine so it has time to breathe (except for aged vintages).
Serving wine in the right order
There’s a right order to serving wine, one wine shouldn’t kill the next so here’s what to do:
White or rosé before red
Light wine before full-bodied wine
Young before old
Dry before sweet
Always serve wine in ascending quality.
Choose the right size bottle for you!
Wine bottle sizes:
half: 375ml or half a bottle
magnum: 1.5l or 2 bottles
marie-jeanne: 2.25l or 3 bottles
double magnum: 3l or 4 bottles
jeroboam: 4.5l or 6 bottles
imperial: 6l or 8 bottles
salmanazar: 9l or 12 bottles
nebuchadnezzar: 15l or 20 bottles
Le nabuchodonosor : 15l or 20 bottles