When you open a bottle of wine you might find it is difficult at first. You should become familiar with the corkscrew you are using before you plant it in the cork. You don't want the cork to crumble or end up inside of the wine. This can be frustrating, especially if there are tiny pieces in the wine and hard to pick out.

When you put a corkscrew in a bottle of wine be sure the end is right in the middle of the cork. Turn the top of the corkscrew until the screw is almost entirely inside of the cork. As you turn the top handle you will notice the sides of the corkscrew will rise. You will push these two side handles down simultaneously and the cork will be removed from the bottle.

Temperatures

Wine is best when it is served at the right temperatures. Some wines tastes horrific if you serve them when they are too warm or even too chilled. Some wines are not meant to be chilled but to be served at room temperature. You should know what temperatures are best or you could ruin your wine tasting party with your friends.

The best wine temperatures for serving wines at a wine tasting party or any time is as follows:

-White Wines: 45 to 50 degrees
-Sparkling Wines: 41 to 51 degrees
-Rose Wines: 45 to 55 degrees
-Red wines: 50 to 64 degrees
-Fortified Wines: 54 to 65 degrees

Properly Chilling Wine

Many people think they can toss a bottle of wine in the freezer for a few minutes and it is perfectly chilled. The best method of chilling a bottle of wine is in a bucket of ice water. You don't want just a bucket full of ice.

Fill a bucket up almost ¾ full with ice. Then mix the bucket with water. Bury the bottle inside of this and allow it to chill for at least half an hour. When you chill wine in a refrigerator it usually takes up to several hours to get to the right temperature.

You can produce a bad wine if you leave it in the refrigerator too long also. You don't wan to ruin a good bottle of wine. When you decide you are ready to drink it be sure to put it on ice water. The freezer and wine do not mix well together and you will not like the taste of the wine.

Storing Leftover Wine

When you store leftover wine be sure not to put it in the refrigerator because it will be tainted the next time you want to drink it. Recork the wine and store it in a good place. The best way to store wine bottles is by ensuring the cork remains moist, the wine will be at the lowest stable temperature as possible, there is no vibration in the storage location, and it is not a storage area for other items that might smell bad.

One thing to keep in mind is that you should never invest in those little miniature wine racks and put them on top of your refrigerator. This is the best way to ruin a good bottle of wine. It might look chic in your kitchen but the warmth of the refrigerator ruins the wine.

If you plan on storing a wine for a long period of time that may be longer than six months then you should be sure that the storage place is dark, has a high humidity, and a low temperature. The ideal temperatures are between 50 and 55 degrees with a 70 percent of humidity.

Signs of Oxidation

It could be really embarrassing to serve a bottle of wine to your friends at a wine tasting party that is oxidized. You should take proper care of your wine so you never have this problem. There are signs you will notice for oxidation.

These things include discoloration of a red wine to a brown tint. White wines will go from white to golden yellow. The wine might smell funny and not how it should. The flavors might be very strange and out of the ordinary.

Tainted wine really is ruined and undrinkable. It won't make you sick but it really is unbearable to drink and you won't want to. When you have a wine tasting the best thing to do is buy more than one bottle of wine in case one of the bottles becomes tainted. It happens from time to time and sometimes it isn't even your fault.

Scott Wells writes for http://DrugAbuseFocus.com - where you can read alcohol and drug abuse stories for the purpose of inspiration, motivation or to provide hope to you or someone you love. Drug and alcohol abuse is serious. Read the stories of others or anonymously publish true stories about drug and alcohol abuse.

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