7 Best Tips to Perfectly Enjoy Your Red Wine
For many, a good glass of red wine often means calling it a day, hanging out with good friends, just having a great time.
Many dishes can be made even better with a good red wine. Because eating and drinking just go together, right? Chianti Classico is especially great with food, because the Sangiovese grape variety...
But what should you pay attention to so you can really enjoy your glass of red wine? Here are my tips:
Letting your wine rest after travel
If you've bought your wine online, for example, or maybe even driven it home yourself from Tuscany, then try to let it 'rest' a bit after it arrives. Italians like to say 'Il vino é stressato' – yes, it's stressed. Transport stress. Letting it rest for another week before opening the bottle makes total sense.
The myth of 'drinking at room temperature'
Contrary to popular belief, you should chill your wine a bit, not drink it at room temperature. The ideal drinking temperature is between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius. Because if the wine in your glass is too warm, the alcohol evaporates pretty quickly, stopping those fruit and spice aromas from really showing themselves. So, it's better to drink it a little cooler; you can put the wine in the fridge for about an hour, for example.
Which glass for good red wine?
Don't use too big a glass, especially for Chianti Classico. I often suggest starting with a white wine glass. If you have a few different types of glasses, just compare the same wine in different ones. I promise you, you'll be amazed at how much difference you'll feel and taste. A lot depends on the glass shape and its capacity. For me, there's no right or wrong glass; it just needs to taste good to you. Experiment and find what you like; the journey is the destination!
Red wine doesn't 'breathe'
People often say, 'red wine needs to breathe.' Well, it really depends on how old the wine is. Because adding oxygen basically speeds up the aging process – just super fast. Personally, I always recommend trying the wine right after opening the bottle, and then *you* decide how you think it should taste. Does it need to taste a bit smoother? For that, you can let the opened bottle sit for a bit, decant it into a carafe, or simply use a fairly large glass. But be careful, as this can have the opposite effect on wines that are already more mature. You could even 'destroy' the wine that way.
Food & Drink
Sangiovese, which is the main grape variety for Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva, and Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, is, in my opinion, a wonderful companion for many types of food. Meat, cheese, and even many vegetarian dishes go perfectly with Sangiovese wines. Wine and food just belong together, at least in Italian wine culture.
Stay cool
In the unlikely event you have some wine left in the bottle, it's a good idea to put the cork back in. Then, it's best to pop the bottle in the fridge to store it. This stops the leftover wine from oxidizing too fast, which means it won't age too quickly. That way, you can make sure you can still enjoy your lovely red wine the next day. Just remember to take the bottle out of the fridge in good time so it can warm up a bit.
Storing good red wine
If you've hopefully bought a few more bottles, make sure they're stored in a dark, cool place, ideally lying down. Dark and cool because otherwise the oxidation process speeds up too much. Lying down so the wine always stays in contact with the cork, allowing for a slow, desired aging process. The more stable the temperature where you store your wine, the better, because one of the biggest enemies of the aging process is big temperature changes.
You can also find a great selection of good red wines here in my online shop.
Viva il Chianti Classico!