WINEROCKS: How to store and serve your wine this summer
Whitstable wine expert Natalia Suta gives some useful tips on how to keep your wine in tip-top shape this summer and serve it at its best
Doesn’t your heart sink when you go to a friend’s house and they serve you a glass of warm white wine that has been lingering on their kitchen counter for weeks?
You are this close to terminating the friendship because - let’s be frank - you don’t need that kind of sacrilege in your life. Serving and storing wine are essential parts of enjoying and appreciating it, and you would be surprised how often we still get that wrong (including in fancy restaurants!). Are you ready for a few handy tips? I’ll serve them to you nicely chilled!
Serving temperature
Wines show the fullest expression of their styles, aromas and flavours when served at specific temperatures. Serve them too cold and they will taste thin and harsh; serve them too warm and they will lose their freshness and their flavours will become muddled. That said, unless you’re drinking 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (let me know the time and the place and I’ll be there!), there’s no need to get painfully meticulous, running around with a wine thermometer serving a Pinot Grigio at precisely 7°C or your Chardonnay at 13°C.
A simple guideline for getting your wine close to its correct serving temperature is to use the 20/20 rule. Take your white or rosé wine out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving and put your red wine in the fridge 20 minutes before serving. Yep! Reds need a tad of chilling, too. The recommended service temperature for most red wines is room temperature (15-18°C). However, with the widespread use of central heating, our rooms are often too hot. Consequently, we tend to drink our red wines too warm - it’s when they start to taste flat and flabby, with the alcohol showing too much. Stick to the 20/20 rule and you will be able to serve your tipple at the perfect temperature. Every time.
Aerating the wine
Every self-respecting wine enthusiast will every now and then be seen swirling their glass with such enthusiasm it’s as if they were trying to summon a genie! Much as I wish it had to do with calling magic spirits, it’s all about down-to-earth aeration. It gives the wine a chance to ‘breathe’, which brings out its aromas, pulls all the flavours together and softens the alcohol and the tannins, making a smoother mouthfeel.
A good old swirl will work wonders with the majority of the wines we drink. There are, however, certain bottles that will need more aerating time to fully open up and reveal their hidden depths - this is particularly true of young, tannic reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Nebbiolo. Aerate these types of wines by pouring them into a decanter (or a jug if no one is watching!) to allow them to mix with oxygen as they pour from the bottle - this will smooth out their punchy tannins, making them taste a lot softer and pleasant on the palate. Note that simply opening a bottle and letting it sit does no good at all! The amount of air in the tiny space of the bottleneck is much too little to have any effect. If you don’t have a decanter and worry about presentation, go for ‘double decanting’, ie pouring the wine into a jug to let it open up and then back into the bottle to serve it.
Storing unfinished bottles
You’re enjoying a cosy night in with a bottle of your favourite wine, your feet are up and your hair is let down… and suddenly it hits you - you cannot finish it all in one sitting. Happens to the best of us! The bad news is the wine will start losing its aromatic intensity if it’s not consumed as soon as it’s opened. The good news is there are a few tried and tested tips to preserve your wine for a few more days.
The simplest way to extend a wine’s life is to replace the closure (make sure it’s tightly sealed!) and keep the wine in the fridge, whether it’s white or red. Minimising the wine’s exposure to the air and keeping it cool will slow down the oxidation. There are a few gadgets on the market, such as vacuum pumps, that will allow you to remove the air from the bottle, further protecting the wine from spoiling too quickly. Drink up your wine within three to four days tops - note it will start to taste much more mellow and less fruity by this time!
My top summer wine picks:
Heppington Vineyard, Pinot Gris 2022 - this Canterbury-based WineGB 2023 bronze-medal-winner is so easy-drinking, you won’t have problems finishing the whole bottle in one sitting! With its crisp acidity and notes of lemon zest, orchard fruit, melon, honeysuckle and a touch of mineral, it will make a perfect aperitif! Serve chilled.
Heppington Vineyard, Pinot Noir 2020 - IEWA 2021 silver-medal-winner, this classic English red wine will blow you away with its bright and vibrant palate and its perky nose of delicate strawberry, cherry, spice, vanilla and a hint of savouriness. The stock is running out fast, but you can still snatch a bottle through online wine merchants. Serve slightly chilled.
