How to Pour Wine

Service of the Wine

Uncorking – Most use the versatile waiters corkscrew which comes with a built in knife.  Use the knife to cut the capsule just below the lip of the bottle.  Use the corkscrew to remove the cork and pour a small sample of wine to test its condition.

Decanting – Some ask when and what types of wines to decant and my answer is all of them if you wish.  Some may not benefit a great deal but at the least you will aerate the wine by doing so.  A vintage port or full bodied older red is likely to need decanting if you wish to eliminate any deposits that may have come from ageing and want to freshen the wine through aeration.  But heck! You may just have a really pretty decanter that you want to show off so go ahead and serve any wine you wish out of it.

Sabre-ing – A must try!  Sabre-ing a Champagne is the coolest.  You have to remember to take the cage off first though!  This takes exactly six twists by the way.  Once the cage is removed you hold the sabre faces away from your body.  A Champagne bottle will have a seam so you simply keep the sabre blade flat along the seam and swipe along the bottle towards the cork.  Point the bottle away from even the most unpleasant of party guests!  And don’t worry about chards of glass going everywhere as this does not happen due to the intensity and force.  It is always a clean cut.