Red wine should be served at room temperature. Make sure you uncork red wines an hour before drinking them; this will allow your wine to ''breathe'' and help to develop the flavour. You can also pour your wine rapidly into a clean glass jug and then back into the bottle again in order to get air right through the wine. This is particularly useful if time is short but should not be done with a mature wine as it will disturb the sediment.

A good mature red should have sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Pour your wine slowly and continuously to avoid decanting the sediment, with the light behind the bottle. If it is to be returned to the bottle, rinse the bottle well and shake it thoroughly dry. (a tip from a butler is to either use a hair dryer to ensure the bottle is completely dry or, alternatively, hold the bottle under a hot running top and the heat from the outside will dry the moisture inside - mind you this would ruin your wine label).

White and Rose wines should be served chilled for about 1-2 hours in a refrigerator, the better the wine, the shorter the time, but don''t uncork them until you are ready to serve. If time is short, wine chills quicker with the cork out. Don''t over chill though as this starts to dull the flavour.