Technical details include the serving temperature of the wine, proper opening and pouring methods, the decision whether or not to decant the bottle and appropriate stemware.

Temperature
The "correct" temperature, like so many details in wine tasting, is ultimately a matter of personal preference. But wine temperature influences wine flavor and there are good reasons to follow time-tested practices.

Cold temperatures enhance the perception of bitterness; warm ones increase the impact of sweetness and alcohol. According to French enologist Emile Peynaud, "the same red wine will seem thin and hot at 72ºF, supple and fluid at 64º, full and astringent at 50º." So a powerful, tannic red should be poured warm enough to minimize its astringency, but not so warm as to emphasize its alcohol. We drink sweet white wines well chilled to keep their sweetness in balance.

We recommend serving full-bodied and mature red wines at 60º to 65ºF, light-bodied young reds at 55º to 60º, dry whites at 45º to 50º and sweet whites at 40º to 50º. Remember that the wine will warm up in the glass, since most dining rooms are heated to 70º or more, so it's better to serve them a couple of degrees too cold than too warm.

Opening
The way you open the bottle won't normally affect its flavors, but as part of the ceremony of wine it helps put the tasters in a receptive mood. If a capsule covers the neck of the bottle, cut it cleanly below the protruding lip and remove the top portion (or simply take the whole thing off). Wipe the neck of the bottle to remove any mold or mineral salts that may have accumulated. Using a corkscrew that feels comfortable in your hand, pull the cork slowly, trying not to disturb any sediment in the wine, and clean the inside of the bottle neck before pouring.

Decanting
Should you decant the wine—that is, pour it from the bottle into a different container for serving?

• Yes, if the wine has thrown a heavy deposit; vintage Port and full-bodied, mature reds are the usual culprits here. (But decanting is useless if the sediment is floating throughout the wine; be sure to stand the bottle upright for a day or two before opening.)
• Yes, if you want to show off an heirloom crystal decanter or hide the identity of the wine.
• In all other cases, decanting is useless at best, harmful at worst.

This advice flouts some conventional wisdom, which argues that young reds (and occasionally other wines as well) benefit from "breathing" and need the vigorous contact with oxygen that decanting provides in order to "open up" and show their best. No scientific evidence supports this point of view. It is true that wines change with exposure to air, but mostly for the worse—old wines, for example, may deteriorate rapidly after opening.

Stemware
Don't forget the glasses. Any container that will hold water can serve wine, but appropriate stemware not only adds beauty to the table, it also enables the fullest communication between wine and taster.

Austrian glassmaker Georg Riedel offers special glasses specifically made for dozens of particular wine types (pictured at left). Investigation has shown that glass shape and size can affect wine taste significantly. If cost is no object, it pays to tailor your stemware to your wines. On the other hand, even Riedel offers an "all-purpose" goblet.

In our experience, the best wine glass is a slender goblet of thin, clear crystal with a long stem on a sturdy base. Heavy cut glass may take light beautifully, but it blunts the contact between wine and tongue, and examining wine through colored glass is like gazing at a beautiful friend who's wearing wraparound sunglasses. The glass should hold 10 to 18 ounces and the bowl should be biggest at the bottom, tapering to a small opening in order to concentrate the wine's aromas.

Text from Wine Spectator's Pocket Guide to Wine. Images from www.winenthusiast.com, www.dukeofbourbon.com, and Wine's Spectator's Pocket Guide to Wine.

Serving Wine: Beyond the Basics
Once you've got the mechanics in place, two more subjective questions arise: When is the wine ready to drink? What foods make the best match with the wine you want to serve? These are long discussions without clear answers.

Aging
English wine authority Jancis Robinson once wrote a book, Vintage Timecharts, exploring the maturation curves of great wines. She plotted arcs on graphs showing time on one axis and wine evolution on the other; the colored lines curving sinuously across the pages are impressively scientific but hopelessly confusing. The truth is that different people prefer wines at different stages of maturity, and different bottles of the same wine may mature at different rates. Trying to find the "perfect" match between taste and development is like trying to hit two moving targets with one shot.

Food Pairings
Wine and food matching is even more complicated, and LearnVino has an entire section on the challenges of Wine and Food Pairing. For a short and sweet answer to this question, the best advice is: Eat what you like and drink what you like. You'll find combinations that work, and they will suggest general rules that will increase your chances of creating other magical matches.

And one day, when everything comes together—the food, the wine, the company—to create a whole that far surpasses any single element, you'll be glad you took the time and the effort to get the details right.

Text from www.winespectator.com.