Know your wine

Let's begin with Wine storing, serving and tasting. The process revolves around picking excellent grapes and manufacturing the final product. Vintage port is usually made from many grapes, which have been sown, grown and harvested in a single year. Vintage is a disputable term. Various parameters control the vintage brand. Some are known to be country specific. Companies offer such products with reviews and photographs to complement them. There are facilities to order them with personalized messages and texts as well.

 

Wine buying requires some knowledge. Bottles with poorly sealed corks and those showing signs of leakages should be avoided. Such wine may have lost it's flavor or lost it's taste. A damp wine label may suggest that the wine may have been stored at a good humid cellar and the final produce should be an excellent product. In addition, such bottles are never airtight. These bottles tend to evaporate over a period and levels may drop a bit. These are acceptable.

 

Many wine bottles sold at the retail counter are ready for immediate consumption, however if someone feels like saving it for a special celebration, a chateau like atmosphere would need to be recreated. Not everybody has a chateau with a cool, damp cellar, and such conditions could be created with little effort.

 

Ideally, the place where the wine is stored should not see temperature fluctuations. Ideally, temperature should be between 13 degrees Celsius to 18 degrees Celsius. Drastic fluctuation of temperature should be avoided. The bottle should be kept in a dark and humid place for adequate aging to happen. The ideal humidity should be in the range of 50% to 80%. Lesser humidity dries the corks. Higher humidity shows evidence of good storage.

 

Myths surround the serving of wines are a dime a dozen. Few like to decant the wine and wait for a while before serving it. Others prefer serving it as soon as the corks are opened. Individuals have a different sentiment, and it is up to their discretion. There is no specific rulebook to follow. However, there are still some tips to be shared. 

 

Mature wines generally have some sediments in the bottle. These apparently are signs that the wine has matured well. When a buyer takes delivery of the bottle, the deposits tend to mix up and are in a state of suspension. It takes a few days for such deposits to land at the bottom of the bottle. After settling, the wine needs to be decanted. Many wine connoisseurs differ on the time to be waited before serving. It depends on the individual. They may choose to serve the wine immediately. Alternatively, they may decide to wait for some time before serving. Ideally, it is not advisable to wait for a long time after opening the bottle and decantation as the wine starts losing its aromas gradually.

 

The 2011 vintages have been declared the best by major vintage houses. The year primarily was the most conducive for growth and had the best produces in near history. Click Here for more details.