Survival guide to the festive season - wine edition

The excitement of great food, great company and of course great wine keeps us smiling all day long - with all this action coming your way we thought it would be the perfect time to go through some wine etiquette do’s and don’ts.

Storage of your wine

Wine is a delicate thing and correct storage is essential. How can we tailor an environment that the wine can rest in for decades and improve appropriately? 

• Lay your wine down on its side - This keeps wine in contact with the cork, this will stop the cork drying out and degrading which will lead to seepage and premature oxidation of the wine. 
• Store your wine in a dark place - UV rays are incredibly damaging to wine and can destroy some of those beautiful aromas and flavours.
• Temperature is essential - Storing your wine at a consistent temperature will ensure that the ageing process occurs at the correct rate. We recommend that you store your wine between 16°C to 13°C. Big fluctuations in temperature will damage your wine so try to keep it consistent.

Serving your wine

It is time to impress, let's open the wine and start pouring for your close ones but there are some rules that one needs to abide by:

• Temperature is incredibly important when serving your wine and the South African room temperature isn’t going to cut it.
• Red wines are to be served between 13°C to 16°C. (Lighter red wines are best served on the cooler end of the spectrum and fuller body reds on the higher side)
• White wines are to be served between 8°C to 12°C (Fresher, more acidic wines are served on the cooler end of the spectrum and oak aged white on the higher side)
• Sparkling wines are to be served between 5°C and 8°C

Holding your glass

The standard wine glass consists of a cup section for the wine and a long stem, this stem isn’t just for show it comes with a purpose. If one were to hold the glass by the bowl of the glass the heat from your hands would alter the temperature of the wine and thus changing the taste and aromas of the wine. Holding the stem of the glass not only makes you look sophisticated but your hands aren't altering the temperature of the wine thus improving your experience of the wine.

5 S’s of wine tasting etiquette

1. Sight - First you must look at your wine - is it a white or a red, light or rich in colour?
2. Swirl - Swirling your wine adds oxygen to your wine and that opens up the aromatics of the wine
3. Smell - Smelling the aromatics after swirling will give you an idea of what you are going to expect in the wine
4. Sip - Tasting the wine, the reason that it was opened in the first place 
5. Savour - Enjoy the experience that is that wine

If you would like a more in-depth explanation and experience when it comes to the finer details of wine I would highly recommend a trip out to the Stellenbosch winelands and visiting Waterford Estate. Their tasting room ambassadors are highly trained in the intricacies of wine and can teach us more than what is just in the bottle.