Drinking wine is generally a pleasurable and enjoyable experience. To enhance that experience, the way that the wine is stored, handled and served is critical. For those who have wondered why wines get decantered and how wine is generally stored and served, the following provides a summary guide for some of the useful techniques used to enhance their wine drinking experience.

Cellaring
Wines generally improve with age and develop complexities during the ageing process. Most wineries will typically provide a guide on how long to cellar their wine for. This period generally depends on the variety and how the wine is cellared. Other factors that influence the ageing process and quality of wine include:

• bottle size (larger format bottles take longer to mature)
• ullage (lower ullage matures the wine faster)

Decantering
There are several benefits to decantering wine. Typically wines get decantered to remove the sediments that can form as part of the wine ageing process. This is more prevalent in red wines than white. 

Another benefit to decanter is to alter the wine characteristics and complexities, which are developed during the ageing process, when it comes into contact with the air or typically termed as breathing.   

Serving Wine
Many use the rule of chilling white wines and serving red wines at room temperature. While this rule is useful, the environment you are in, for example on a hot summer day in Australia, the room temperature may be too warm.

The recommended serving temperatures for red wine is between 14-19 degrees celcius while it is recommended to serve white wine between 8-12 degrees celcius.

Some useful serving tips include:

• Chilling white wine by placing the bottle in an ice bucket of both ice and water
• Don't put sparkling wine in the freezer
• Don't subject wine to heat sources when trying to warm wine. Plan ahead and bring the wine from storage a day earlier.
• Cooling reds in a refrigerator prior to serving is acceptable

A general rule to serving wine is to serve wine on the cold side as wine will warm up when it is served in the glass.

Wine Glasses
Wine Glasses used to serve wine

• should be clean & clear - this enables you to view the colour of the wine and also to enjoy the taste the wine's taste
• are of a sufficent size to ensure enough wine can be poured but also allow the wine to be swirled
• are tapered in shape to concentrate the bouquet

Wine Glasses don't need to be expensive but if they meet the simple guidelines above, it will enhance the overall drinking experience.

Guide to cleaning wine glasses

• Wash the glass using warm water without detergent
• Place the glass upside down to drain
• For better results - steam over boiling water
• Use a towel to polish if required

Serving wine
A small amount is poured into the glass for you to taste prior to serving. This is to verify the wine is free of faults. When pouring into the glass, do not pour to the very top. Ensure there is sufficient space for the wine to be swirled to release its aromas.

Like wine pairing, the order in which wine is served depends on the individual's palate and the menu. The general order which many use include

• light bodied before full bodied
• white before red
• young before old
• sweet before dry

Tasting Wine
This relies on all of your senses, not just taste.

• sight - inspect the color (hue) of the wine can provide an indication to the age for both red and white wines. Red wines will be deeper in colour and over time will become paler. Aged white wines will typcially have deeper yellows and golds. 
  The colour may also indicate the variety of the wines.
• smell - remember to swirl to release the aromas. When smelling wine, think of all the aromas (and odours) that the wine imparts
• tactile - this is related to the legs & beads of the wine. Stronger wines can have oily legs can refelect high alcohol content or sugar presence. Wattery legs generally reflect the wine is weaker. Beads are used to describe sparkling wines and the size of the bubbles generated by the wine. 
• taste - take a mouthful of wine, remembering to breathe in an out through the nose and slurp through some air through the wine.  You may choose to spit the wine at public tastings if you have any driving responsibilities.