Winemaker Tip

Wine lovers, I hope you enjoy “The Winemaker’s 7 Essential Tips For Serving Wine With The Best Results!” from Roland Zimmermann, co-owner and winemaker of King’s Court Estate Winery.

By Roland Zimmermann

It should be no surprise to you that as soon as the cork is pulled, all fine wine begins its interlude with atmosphere, evaporating volatile compounds exposed on the surface, while oxidizing and changing its chemistry. For the most part, it is a good thing, softening the nose and the palate, and in general making the wine more satisfying, opening up its flavours and aromas under the more controlled and protected environment of the decanter.

Decanting a wine prior to serving will ensure that the initial blast of any unpleasant volatile vapors dissipates, allowing the true aromas and flavours to shine through. It will also help to clear sediment from the wine. As wine ages in the bottle, the heavy anthocyanins and other colour pigments bond with the tannins, forming heavier molecules that precipitate out, falling to the lowest point in the bottle.

Photo credit: Riedel Canada

Bottles stored horizontally should be righted carefully to minimize distribution of sediment. Righting the bottle about 24 hours prior to opening will help remaining sediment move to the bottom.

To properly decant wine, wipe the rim of the bottle after opening, then slowly pour the wine into a clean decanter, continuing to the half way point where pouring should slow even further. While pouring, look for pepper-like flecks. When they begin to appear, stop the pour and dispose of the remaining wine, or set aside and filter through cheesecloth to use in a gourmet dish.

To decant wine in the bottle, uncork an hour or two before serving. Pour a small amount of wine from the bottle to allow it to breathe, taking care not to encourage any sedimentation from the bottom of the bottle to lift into the wine. Touch the rim of the glass to the lip of the bottle and slowly tilt the bottle to pour, then gently lower both glass and bottle to table.

Take the quesswork out of which wines go well with your favorite dishes by viewing our wine-pairing article here. To complete your perfect dinner party, let’s take a look at our vintner’s hand-picked selection of red, white, rose, late harvest, icewine, and fruit wines. On the site, you will find an exciting variety of flavours to satisfy every palate on your guest list, and ensure a successful dining experience with those you love.

Gorgeous decanters from Reidel Canada. Tip – pronounced “Ree-del” Photo: Reidel Canada

Thank you for following along. I hope you enjoyed this series “The Winemaker’s 7 Essential Tips For Serving Wine With The Best Results!”

See also…

Winemaker Tip #1. The Corkscrew: Cut, Twist, Pull

Winemaker Tip #2. A Matter of Degree: Temperature & Wine

Winemaker Tip #3. Stemware Selection for White Wine: A Delicate Dance

Winemaker Tip #4. Red Wine Stemware: Passionate Presentation

Winemaker Tip #5. Stemware for Dessert Wines: Short & Sweet

Winemaker Tip #6. Wine & Cheese: Perfect Pairing

Wine lovers, I hope you enjoy “The Winemaker’s 7 Essential Tips For Serving Wine With The Best Results!” from Roland Zimmermann, co-owner and winemaker of King’s Court Estate Winery.

By Roland Zimmermann

If you are anything like me, you agree that cheese is such pleasant company for a fine glass of wine, serving as much more than a prelude to a feast. Add a rustic bread, or crispy crudités, and it becomes a light meal that favours both body and soul. With a few guidelines, individual adventures in pairing will hopefully encourage great culinary discoveries.

Generally, wines with good acidity are more pleasant with cheeses than those with strong tannin profiles. To find a good match, consider the natural geographic origin as a starting point, pairing natives like Parmesan with Chianti, or Brie with Champagne.

Creamy cheeses like camembert and brie pair well with bright Chardonnays, Pinot Blancs, and Champagnes. Blue cheeses, such as Roquefort, Stilton, and Shropshire, highlight flavours in medium bodied reds like Cabernet Franc, but also work well with Port as a final course.

Photo Credit: Grand Pré Wines

Substantial, hard cheeses, such as cheddar, Gouda, or Double Gloucester, are solid choices for red pours of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Zinfandel. Artisanl Livarot, a pungent cheese aged in the caves of Normandy, is also a good choice for the big, hearty reds, as is Royale, a hearty sheep’s milk cheese from Spain.

Gruyere, which is semi-hard, is a very good match for Sauvignon Blanc as well as Chardonnay. Also try Garrotxa, a semi-firm goat’s milk cheese from Spain; or Chaourse, an old traditional French cheese that hints of mushrooms with a smooth, creamy touch.

Cheese that comes to you fresh, such as ricotta, goat, and mozzarella, pairs best with lighter bodied wines such as Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and unoaked Chardonnays. For an exquisite light dessert course, serve an Icewine or Sauterne with Crème Fraiche, or Mascarpone, putting an elegant flourish on a memorable repast. For a more savory finish, try a Mycella from Denmark, or a peppery Blu del Moncenisio from the Piedmont region of Italy.

Additionally, many local farms are producing artisanal cheeses that far surpass their cold case counterparts in the local stores, and are worth exploring. The grasses and feed of the animals providing the milk provide extra layers of flavor that are unrivalled. Farmer’s Markets often feature local vendors supplying the area.

“Stin iyia!”

See also…

Winemaker Tip #1. The Corkscrew: Cut, Twist, Pull

Winemaker Tip #2. A Matter of Degree: Temperature & Wine

Winemaker Tip #3. Stemware Selection for White Wine: A Delicate Dance

Winemaker Tip #4. Red Wine Stemware: Passionate Presentation

Winemaker Tip #5. Stemware for Dessert Wines: Short & Sweet

Winemaker Tip #7. Decanting Wine: Sediment & Evaporation

Wine lovers, I hope you enjoy “The Winemaker’s 7 Essential Tips For Serving Wine With The Best Results!” from Roland Zimmermann, co-owner and winemaker of King’s Court Estate Winery.

By Roland Zimmermann

If you’re serious about dessert wines, you already know that they embrace a wide range of sweetness and style. But were you aware that light, fruity Rieslings, Vidal Blancs, and Sauternes, present a completely different profile than the deep red Ports, Marsalas, and Madieras? Icewines, prepared from both red and white grapes frozen on the vine, deserve a special mention, due to their incredible concentration and rich palate. In order to appreciate the characteristics of each, appropriate stemware should be a consideration.

Due to the intense profiles, sweet wine glasses tend to be on the smallish side. Rounded bowls, while not nearly as large as those of dry red or white wines, still allow for the wine to roll smoothly while swishing to aerate. A bowl of between 235 and 265ml (8 and 9 ounces) provides a good balance for most sweet wines. Additionally, the stems of dessert wines are usually shorter than those for dry wines.

Photo Credit: Grand Pré Wines

Icewine stemware has a very tapered bowl, with a raised globe nearer the rim than the stem. The shape helps to highlight acidity, balancing the delightfully concentrated wine with late aeration on its way to pleasing the palate. Bowls that are just a bit larger than dessert wine stems, with bowls of 265 to 325 ml (9 to 11 ounce) capacity, especially flatter the sip.

Similar to icewines, late harvest wines exhibit a concentrated flavor and sweetness profile deserving of a smaller bowl perched upon stemware with a shorter stem. Late harvest wines, such as our 2009 Vidal Late Harvest bottle, are best poured to fill only a third of the bowl, allowing for just enough breathing room to keep the wine lively, and just enough tuck at the top to maintain the punch of the concentrated nose. These incredibly rare and tasty wines deserve proper presentation. If this wine proves to be a favorite, be on the lookout for extraordinary antique glassware sets, should one be lucky enough to happen upon them.

“Cin cin!”

See also…

Winemaker Tip #1. The Corkscrew: Cut, Twist, Pull

Winemaker Tip #2. A Matter of Degree: Temperature & Wine

Winemaker Tip #3. Stemware Selection for White Wine: A Delicate Dance

Winemaker Tip #4. Red Wine Stemware: Passionate Presentation

Winemaker Tip #6. Wine & Cheese: Perfect Pairing

Winemaker Tip #7. Decanting Wine: Sediment & Evaporation

Wine lovers, I hope you enjoy “The Winemaker’s 7 Essential Tips For Serving Wine With The Best Results!” from Roland Zimmermann, co-owner and winemaker of King’s Court Estate Winery.

By Roland Zimmermann

Did you know that stemware designed for red wine embraces nearly every red variety of Vitis vinifera known to man, with infinite choices in size, shape, and material? A few simple considerations serve as a stemware guide to improve the experience and maximize the profile of any red wine.

In flawless crystal clear glassware, with large, rounded bowls, the spectrum of red wines sets hearts afire with brilliant ruby, burgundy, and blushing arrays. Continuing the dance between man and vine, generous bowls with narrowed rims harbour the aromas and encourage aeration, selfishly saving a perfect sip for the palate at hand.

Red wines do breathe passionately upon release from the bottle. Controlling that passion, carefully nurtured by appropriate storage and serving temperatures as well as proper decanting, rewards the recipient even further when served in one of the larger, tapered-rim bowls of between 590 to 740 ml (20 to 25 ounces). The pour, of course, should release only about 145 to 180 ml (5 to 6 ounces) into the stem for adequate aeration.

Crystal stemware’s thin rim provides the ultimate experience, but just about any glass is preferable to plastic, which outgases chemistry into the wine, affecting nose and palate. Glassware with a thick lip sends a turbulent sip into the mouth, resulting in an edgier mouthfeel and disrupted palate. The fine, thin rims of crystal are unrivalled in delivering the smoothest, truest, most eloquent taste possible.

Choosing a stemware type that reflects personal varietal preference makes sense if a library of glassware proves impractical, but the final choice should be one that pleases the individual palate, regardless of expert opinion.

“Salud!”

See also…

Winemaker Tip #1. The Corkscrew: Cut, Twist, Pull

Winemaker Tip #2. A Matter of Degree: Temperature & Wine

Winemaker Tip #3. Stemware Selection for White Wine: A Delicate Dance

Winemaker Tip #5. Stemware for Dessert Wines: Short & Sweet

Winemaker Tip #6. Wine & Cheese: Perfect Pairing

Winemaker Tip #7. Decanting Wine: Sediment & Evaporation

Wine lovers, I hope you enjoy “The Winemaker’s 7 Essential Tips For Serving Wine With The Best Results!” from Roland Zimmermann, co-owner and winemaker of King’s Court Estate Winery.

By Roland Zimmermann

As you likely already know, hosting a successful dinner party means pairing wines with the appropriate cuisine. Most food and wine experts believe that specific wine varieties simply taste better with certain foods, matching the strengths of the wine to the cuisine. Conversely, pairing wines with a proper wine glass remains an afterthought for many a bottle of deserving wine.

Connoisseurs maintain that stemware has a definite effect on nose and palate. Studies indicate that a white wine bouquet becomes lost in a large, open-rimmed vessel, allowing quick oxidation and the escape of delicious aromas without so much as a single whiff. Smaller, tulip-shaped stemware collects and circulates white wine aromas with just the right amount of oxygen to enhance the experience, providing the sensory introduction our winemaker intended.

Debate continues over construction materials, with many fans in the crystal camp. Crystal is strengthened by the addition of lead to molten glass.  Superior sparkle aside, lead allows the bowls to be quite thin, enabling a more intimate sip with a thin edge that does not disrupt the wine on the way to the palate, delivering a smooth, supple sip. Additionally, for those concerned with regard to lead, there are crystal wine glass manufacturers that make excellent lead-free options.

The ideal bowl size for white wines is 350 ml (12-14 ounces), with a pour filling just one-third of the glass. The bowl should be narrow, keeping surface area to a minimum, preventing the wine from warming.

And what of the plastic wine glass? Most plastics are made from petrochemicals that continually outgas chemistry, affecting nose and taste. Plastic stemware, while constructed with proper architecture, cannot escape its material genetics.

Recently, stemless glassware has come into vogue as a more casual serving style. Attractive for its compact nature, the glass fits nicely into dishwashers and cabinets. The stems are an important component, however, as they serve a useful purpose, keeping the warmth of the hand from altering the temperature of the wine in the glass. Holding a stemless glass in the hand transfers body heat into the glass, warming the wine and affecting the taste.

Stemware that shows off the colour of the wine while maximizing the experience on the nose and palate is the goal. Thin, clear stemware, made of high quality glass or crystal, will give the wine an opportunity to shine, highlighting its best. Thick, coloured or patterned glassware highlights the vessel, taking away from the precious liquid within. We encourage making the most of every bottle, with proper consideration for grape variety, winemaking, storage, and serving temperature. It seems only prudent to continue that pursuit of excellence by selecting an appropriate glass for the pour.

“Ein Prost!”

See also…

Winemaker Tip #1. The Corkscrew: Cut, Twist, Pull

Winemaker Tip #2. A Matter of Degree: Temperature & Wine

Winemaker Tip #4. Red Wine Stemware: Passionate Presentation

Winemaker Tip #5. Stemware for Dessert Wines: Short & Sweet

Winemaker Tip #6. Wine & Cheese: Perfect Pairing

Winemaker Tip #7. Decanting Wine: Sediment & Evaporation