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Red Wines
IM
its temperature to be exactly at "room" height. But never
try to warm wines at radiators,in warm water,or near any
artificial heating apparatus.
Port, Sherry, the various Rhone reds from the French
river district, the Burgundian reds; Zinfandel, Benedictine,
Chianti, Grignolino and the other red Itafian wines, should
be at room temperature; as also the red Califomian wines,
which, by the way,hke the red wines from New York, New
Jersey and Ohio,are becoming more and more acceptable as
substitutes for the imported wines and are greatly improved
over the products of the pre-Prohibition period, when they
seemed to lack the graciousness offoreign productions.
The sweeter types should be served in tulip or spheroid
glasses much smaller than those used for the "dry" types of
red wines,and this applies, also, to the sweet white wines,as
discussed in the next chapter.
Red Sparkling Burgundy should be dulled but not made
too cold when served, lest its fine fruity flavor be lost. It
should be a shade above the temperature at which Cham
pagne is served.
It should be served in a wide mouthed shallow, hollow-
stemmed glass slightly smaller than the usual Champagne
glass.
In this, as in other chapters deahng with wines, I must
urge you never to shake the bottle,lest you stir up the lees or
dregs and impart a cloudy appearance or bitter dreg taste to
an otherwise delicious beverage.
It might be well, if you pour at table, to place a damp
napkin around the neck of the bottle, to catch any drippings
after pouring. This will avert unsightly stains on your table
linen.
Of course,one may avoid serving from the bottle at table
by previously pouring wine from bottle into decanter and
serving from the decanter. Or, ofttimes, glasses may be
filled awayfrom the table and servedfrom atray,if one wishes
to be lessformal.
Icannot refrain,atthis point,from adding mostemphatic
ally to previous comment about serving wines at proper tem
peratures. Improper chilling or heating may rob a wine of