It Turns Out We've Been Pouring Wine Completely Wrong

Christmas time is for mistletoe and more importantly, wine.

From a Pinot Grigio with your turkey dinner to a glass of the mulled stuff in the evening, on average people in the UK are set to consume 14 units of alcohol on the big day itself - with almost two-thirds of British drinkers admitting to overindulging over the festive season.

But if you're looking to have a more responsible Christmas and enrich the taste of your wine this festive season, Head of Fine Wine at Cult Wines, Lukas Kolodziejczyk, has some tips to pour and drink wine like a pro.

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Lukas recommends that we decant any wine first before we even consider reaching for a glass.

Decanting serves two purposes - firstly, it stops naturally occurring sediment from the bottle reaching your glass, and secondly it allows the wine to aerate, or "breathe" before it's knocked back - giving it a better taste.

But while we may all know that we should (but don't always) decant our wines, fewer people know proper wine-pouring etiquette.

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Lukas has revealed that us ladies should always be poured wine first (sounds about right, tbh) and that our glasses should be kept topped up from the guest's right-hand side (and not just poured from wherever you fancy).

When it comes down to the truly important business (i.e actually drinking the wine), Lukas recommends that if you're not using a decanter, that you hold the bottle by the bottom - and never from the neck while you pour.

Whereabouts you pour the wine into the glass doesn't matter, as long as you avoid any splashes onto the tablecloth (particularly if you're pouring some red, which can be a nightmare to get out.

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For red and white wines, the usual measure is about 125ml for a smaller serving or 175ml for an average-sized serving. This is pretty tricky to do by sight, so usually your best bet is to fill to the widest part of the glass, or at least a couple of inches from the rim - this gives the wine the best opportunity to breathe.

It turns out there's far more to wine than knocking the glass back - bottoms up, everyone!

Topics: Christmas, Wine, Tasty Drink, Food & Drink, Alcohol, Tasty

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

@0xKimberley