1. Temperature. Americans tend to drink their whites too cold and reds too warm. Consider pulling out the white wine 20 minutes before opening it. Do the reverse with red wines—put the bottle in the fridge so it’s a touch cooler than room temp. Red wines are best served at 55 to 65 degrees, with lighter wines (pinot noir and Beaujolais) on the cooler side and heavier reds (cabernet and merlot) on the warmer side. White wines should be served between 45 and 55 degrees. If the wine is bigger, lean toward the warmer end of the scale; if it’s young and crisp, then favor the cooler side. (Keeping a bottle in a bucket of ice is way too cold, even for Champagne.)
2. Stemware: Put the same wine in four different glasses, and even neophytes will be able to tell the difference. It’s not necessary to own a glass for each varietal, but you do need to cover the basics: a Bordeaux or cabernet glass (for Bordeaux varietals, plus other thick-skinned grapes); a Burgundy or pinot noir glass (for pinot noir, as well as chardonnay, Nebbiolo, grenache blends, Tempranillo, and other richer whites); and a smaller white wine glass (for Champagne and crisp-style whites such as riesling, Grüner, pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, and Botrytis-laden dessert wines). Flutes are no longer necessary, so throw them away.
3. Aeration: I learned years ago to never assume anything in the way of decanting. I open the wine, taste it, and let it speak to me: If it’s great off the cork, then I do nothing; if it’s a little stingy on fruit or floral aromatics, I decant it. (Decanting can actually hurt older wines that are on the fragile side.) Most wines that do require decanting fall in the one- to three-hour range.
Drink, and enjoy.
