Instructions

1. Pair wine with food. In general, red wines go with red meat, and white wines with seafood and poultry, but you also have to consider how flavorful the food is. Check a wine guide found online or in a culinary book for help with this.

2. Serve wine at the right temperature. Shoot for about 63 degrees for red wines and 53 degrees for white wines. Special equipment is available for cooling wines to precise temperatures; most people just guesstimate.

3. Choose the right wine glass. Red wines generally go in larger glasses, but wines served at dinner get larger glasses whether they're red or white. It's important to use stemware to keep your hand from warming the wine as you hold your glass. If you don't want to bother with a variety of wine glasses, buy one size--a 5 1/2" tall glass that holds 8 ounces.

4. Decant wines. If you've splurged for an old bottle of wine, decant it just before serving, and leave a little in the bottle. Decanting old wines keeps sediment that develops over the years from ending up in the glasses. Young wines should be decanted a few hours before serving; this is known as "letting it breathe" and helps it taste more like an older wine. Invest in a decanter.

5. Take time to appreciate the aroma of the wine you're drinking.