Wine Basics - Introduction to Wine, Wine Drinking

Proper wine storage depends on achieving and maintaining the optimal conditions for wine: cool and consistent temperature, high and consistent humidity, physical stability, darkness, and an absence of strong odors.

Some wine experts believe that there are absolute best numbers that must be held at all times, but some variation is possible without damaging your wine. Most important is consistency: the less change and the slower the change the better your wine will be.

Decanting wine can be a nice part of the wine serving ritual and is something many think about when they think about serving fine wine. Not all wines need to be decanted, though. Wine only needs to be decanted if it is a red wine that has formed a sediment in the bottle while aging for several years. The sediment in red wine helps give it character and complexity, but you don't want to that sediment in your wine glass when you drink. Decant your wine in advance to eliminate the sediment

It's more popular than ever to bring your own bottle of wine to restaurants when dining out, but if you are seriously considering a BYOB wine evening at a local restaurant, there are some important issues you need to consider first. There are things you need to do in advance and things you need to remember not to do if you want have to have a successful, enjoyable evening pairing one of your wines with a nice restaurant meal. There are also things you absolutely, positively must not do!

Everyone has to start somewhere to learn more about wine. You've probably already been drinking wine, but there is a difference between casual wine consumption and an organized, intentional effort to learn about what wine is, how wines taste, and when wines are best drunk. You can continue drinking wines in a casual manner, enjoying them for what they are in the moment, or you can add to your knowledge of wine and thereby expand how you enjoy wine. Knowledge is not only power, but also pleasure.

Many people underestimate the importance of smell when it comes to taste, but when you lose your smell due to a cold you also lose much of your ability to taste. Wines are filled with aromatic compounds that determine much of the complexity of the wine's ultimate taste, so before you drink any wine you should take the time to breathe it in deeply first. Once you understand what your wine really smells like, you'll better understand what it tastes like when it's in your mouth.