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Special stoppers that keep wine sparking and Champagne
bubbling for one or two days after opening, can be bought at
most good wine shops.
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When stored correctly, white wines can keep well for up to two
years. Full bodied reds will age well for ten years and dessert
wines will age well for up to twenty years.
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When you buy a bottle of wine, you should transfer it to a
suitable storage location immediately (if you are not going to
store it in your wine cabinet).
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Cheaper bottles of wine will not age as well as more expensive
ones.
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To make the most of the bouquet and taste of your wine, never
fill more than half a glass at a time. It will also help if the shape
of your wine glass is appropriate for your wine. The size and
shape of your wine glass’s bowl will determine the intensity and
complexity of the bouquet. The stem should be long enough to
allow you to avoid hand contact with the bowl of the glass and
should be tulip-shaped or tapered at the top.
Wine storage problems
Corking- a tiny percentage of bottled wine (about 1%) will suffer from
this. The cork reacts with the wine and gives it a musty, unpleasant
taste. It is the most common wine storage problem and is caused by
harmless bacteria growing on the cork. As unfortunate as this is, there
is nothing to do but to discard all of the wine in the affected bottle.
This is not to be confused with small fragments of cork floating in the
wine itself, which will not impair the flavour.
Oxidisation- when wine has been opened and left for longer than a
day; it tends to lose its aroma and colour, giving an overall flat taste.
The only way to avoid this, it to either drink the wine on the same day
it was opened or to use a vacuum device specially designed for
removing oxygen from opened wine bottles. If you use such a device,
the wine should still be consumed shortly afterwards.
Ullage- this is loss of wine from the bottle by evaporation or leakage.
Signs of ullage include wine seeping around the cork, a protruding cork
or a stained label. It can happen if the bottle has been allowed to get
too warm. The wine may still be drinkable, if the leakage was recent;
however, you should be aware that if the wine cools down again,
contraction can cause more air to be sucked into the bottle and result
in further deterioration.
