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Tips on giving a bottle of wine
by Hannah Terry
http://www.cookingflair.com
What could be better than giving a bottle of wine as a
gift? Well, perhaps giving a bottle that has a 'designer'
label. You can name people or personalise a thank you. For
instance, 'Happy Birthday Fred, with oceans of kisses from
Gladys' or 'thank you for saving our loving cat, Freda when
she climbed up the tree'. You'll find many companies who
can offer this service, the one snag is that you'll have to
think ahead.
When choosing a wine, remember that most wines are best
drunk young. Most popular wines of today are light-bodied
and are therefore best drunk within three years of harvest,
whereas heavy-bodied, high tannin wines can be stored and
drunk over a far longer period.
If you're storing wines of whatever age you need to keep
them away from the light and heat (that's why cellars are
so often preferred). Although it's customary to store
bottles on their sides, it's quite alright to store them
standing for several months without any damage.
If you're travelling with wine, it's best to keep it
standing and keep it in the coolest place in the car.
Certainly leaving bottles in a boiling hot sun in the
middle of summer for hours on end won't do the wine any
good at all. When you do arrive, allow the wine to return
to room temperature before it's laid back down on its side.
In the Middle Ages it was discovered that sulphur dioxide
could be used as a preservative. This is still used in very
cheap wines and can cause headaches and severe reactions
for people who may suffer from certain ailments such as
asthma.
For wines that have sediment, it is recommended that they
are decanted. To do this correctly you should first agitate
the bottle to loosen the sediment clinging to the sides.
Then place the bottle upright to rest until all the
sediment has settled to the bottom. This could take
anything from half an hour to several days, but you may
want to leave up to a couple of weeks to ensure that no
sediment goes into the decanter. When you remove the cork
be careful not to tilt the bottle. Stand in front of a
light or a window so that you can look through the wine to
the light. Lift your carafe to the neck of the bottle and
tilt the bottle. Pour the wine slowly without stopping
until you see the sediment reach the neck of the bottle.
And the last question? Is it best to use a corkpuller (a
handle with two prongs) or a cork screw? The corkpuller
will fit into your pocket and is considered the best by
most professionals as it's much quicker, but the technique
does need a lot of practice. If, however, the cork is not
tight or is plastic, a corkscrew will do a better job for
you as the pressure of the prongs with a corkpuller can
easily push the cork into the bottle. Whatever you use,
however, the important thing is that you concentrate
carefully and if the cork starts to move you change to a
corkscrew.
Happy drinking!
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