How-To: Preparing Red Wine for Tasting

As another entry in my How-To series, I'm going to quickly discuss how I prepare red wine for serving. Remember - there are multiple ways to prepare and drink wine...this isn't an end-all method, just the way I do it. I'm not a professional sommelier, just a guy who has had a lot of wine and have narrowed down a method.

I'm also modifying this slightly from a December 2013 post I did about tasting wine. I wanted to go a little deeper into the steps BEFORE drinking so next time any of you have people over, you can serve your red wine like a boss.

STEP 1: Get some red wine.

For this, you'll need some red wine. White wines have a different procedure, which I may cover someday. But for right now, you'll need your favorite, regular red wine. I chose a delicious Bastide Miraflors syrah / old vine Grenache from France.

STEP 2: Pop that sucker in the fridge.

Most red wines are meant to be served at 62 - 68 degrees Fahrenheit. It's likely wherever you store your wine is not that cold. Mine's not. A French cave might be, or a cellar deep underground, but odds are if you are reading this blog you do not have either of those. 

STEP 3: Wait 20 minutes.

Twenty minutes isn't a long time, but it's long enough to drop that wine down to temp. You'll want your red wine to be a little cooler than the range I quoted above, because it's going to spend some time sitting out and warming up. Remember - a lot of the flavor development of red wine has to do with changes in temperature as well as exposure to air. So set the clock for twenty minutes, and go about your day. Take a walk, or start working on dinner (as I did, making a homemade goat-cheese-and-basil Alfredo dish, the sauce of which also coincidentally takes 20 minutes to simmer.)

STEP 4: Uncork and pour.

After 20 minutes or so has elapsed, you'll want to take your wine out of the fridge and uncork it. But wait - don't sit down and chug the whole thing just yet. Remember what I said about air mixing with the wine? You'll need to let it sit for a little while. So go ahead and pour out a few inches of wine into your glass, give the bottle a light swish or two, and set it back down on the table. It'll need at least ten minutes to start opening up; some people wait much longer than that. As you wait, and the wine warms up to room temperature from the fridge, and the elements of the wine start to interact with the air. So go back to making your dinner, or check your phone, or whatever - you'll only need to wait 10  more minutes. 

STEP 5: Enjoy!

OK, after 10 minutes, now it's time to serve your wine. You can pour out the desired amount into your glass and enjoy. But remember to follow the tasting tips that I outlined here. Your wine experience has only just begun - enjoy it on its own, or with dinner, or however you want to enjoy it. And hopefully, the knowledge of wine and the way the flavors open up will help deepen your enjoyment of the wine. Try these steps out next time you're having wine with dinner!