In order to enjoy a wine or sparkling wine as fully as possible and to realise its full potential, appropriate preparation is essential, depending on the type of wine.
The first question is in what company, in what mood and in what place? In a restaurant by candlelight, in a beach café with a view of the sea and the twinkling starry sky, with business associates after a contract has been signed, in front of a flickering open fire in cosy togetherness, with fish, at a barbecue, at a wine tavern, after a walk, on the third rainy day in Tuscany or on your 50th wedding anniversary. The ambience plays an important role. Who hasn't experienced the deceptive magic of a holiday wine? A wine should be enjoyed at the "right time", ideally when it has reached drinking maturity or ideally its peak (see under ageing and shelf life). And, of course, the wine to be enjoyed should also go well with the food or harmonise with it if it is consumed with food.
In the past, you needed a wealth of encyclopaedias and specialist literature to keep up to date in your vinophile professional life. Today, Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one of my best helpers and can rightly be called the "bible of wine knowledge".
Prof. Dr. Walter Kutscher
Lehrgangsleiter Sommelierausbildung WIFI-Wien