Red wine will develop and improve in the bottle for the short, medium, or long term, depending on the style of the wine and the quality of the particular vintage. Although some white wines will also benefit from (usually short-term) cellaring, it must be said that most are best enjoyed when relatively young.

Cellaring Wine
A few bottles on display in the dining room; a few cases under the bed, under the stairs, or under the house; a specially built temperature-controlled, underground room: all these are wine cellars.

Wine is best stored somewhere cool, dark, airy, and free from vibration and dampness. A cellar need not be under the house. The single most important factor is temperature stability. Wine stored when the temperature varies gradually with the seasons are better off than wine stored in a room which is heated during the day and then allowed to cool to, say, winter temperatures at night.

If you intend to mature wines for 5, 10, 15 years or more, the ideal cellar temperature is 14-15 degrees celsius (58 degrees fahrenheit), with a relative humidity of 60-75%. If the wine in your cellar is a significant investment, it is worth using a thermometer to monitor summer temperatures. It may be cause for concern if cellar temperature goes much over 18 degrees celcius (64 degrees fahrenheit), as warm conditions will accelerate the development of your wines; possibly reducing the pleasure to be had by them.

It is remarkable how much wine can fit into a relatively small space, especially if you use a simple wooden or metal racking system, which will keep wines well ventilated, and provide easy single-bottle access. Bottles should be stored on their sides, ideally with the necks sloping slightly upwards so that the cork remains wet, the bubble of air is in the shoulder, and any sediment will collect at the bottom of the bottle. This will make the wine easier to decant.

Store wine with the label facing up, or use written necktags so that you need not disturb a wine to identify it. And do not believe anyone who tells you that bottles should be turned periodically. This is nonsense.

As a last resort, if you have lots of wine and nowhere appropriate to put it at home, you could consider renting a lock-up storage space. In some cities you may even find that specialised wine storage facilities are available. Reputable wine merchants should be able to provide advice.

When is a wine at its best?
There is no simple answer to this question, because so many factors are involved. Do you like a wine to retain some of its richness? Or do you prefer the gentle, mellow, softer complexity of a fully mature wine? Not an easy choice. What style is the wine in the first place? A great and powerful Penfolds Grange that needs 10 to 15 years in bottle to begin to show it's best? Or an easy-drinking Penfolds Koonunga Hill that may start to fade after four or five years?

Whatever your level of wine experience, the best answer is to trust your own palate, taste a wine regularly to see how it is developing and judge when it reaches a point at which you really enjoy drinking it. If you have one case of 12 bottles, a typical pattern might be to drink two or three bottles while the wine is developing, six to eight bottles over the year or until you feel it is at its peak, with two or three bottles left over to satisfy your curiosity about its longer-term potential. With another wine, of course, you might try one bottle and decide not to open another for at least a decade. Or decide to take the whole case to the next barbecue.

Bear in mind, that your wine will tend to mature more quickly if your cellaring conditions are not ideal. Also note that half-bottles mature more quickly, and magnums (1.5 litre) more slowly, than standard 750ml bottles.

Serving Temperature
The European idea of serving red wine at "room temperature" works very well in cooler climates. But in Australia or California it could mean serving Shiraz or Cabernet at over 30 degrees celcius in summer (86 degrees fahrenheit). This is too warm and ruins the experience of drinking a fine red wine.

The bottle should be cool to the touch, but not cold: a "cellar temperature" of 15 to 18 degrees (59 to 64 degrees fahrenheit) celcius is ideal. Do not be concerned if this means cooling your reds in the refrigerator for half an hour prior to serving.

Temperatures for serving whites are not so critical, but beware of over-chilling and avoid storing white wine in the refrigerator for long periods. Both tend to deaden flavour. It is best to chill white wine as it is needed. The best way is in an ice bucket for 20 to 30 minutes with a mixture of ice and water. Chardonnay particularly, is often served too cold. The wine's real flavour will only begin to emerge when the chill comes off.

Opening the Bottle
Removing the cork from a bottle of good red requires a little care, which the wine deserves. Start off with a good corkscrew, one that is simple to operate. The best corkscrews pull the cork straight up out of the bottle (without dragging it sideways, like the so-called "waiter's friend").

Cut the capsule on the ridge just below the top of the bottle and clean off any residue that has collected under the capsule. Screw down well into the cork, although it is a good idea not to go right through it, you could push a broken piece of cork into the wine or disturb sediment that might be adhering to the bottom of the cork. Remove the cork slowly. Carefully wipe off any remaining residue inside the rim with a clean cloth.

Decanting
There are two good reasons to decant a wine. One is to separate the clear wine from any sediment or "crust" that has formed in the bottle as the wine has aged. The other is to stimulate or enliven the wine by exposing it to air and giving it a chance to "breathe".

"Double-decanting" is an excellent solution, as it gives the wine a double dose of air and does not require a decanter. Stand the bottle up for a few hours (even a couple of days, if possible), or carry it carefully from the cellar so any sediment is not disturbed. Open the bottle and pour the wine into a clean jug in a single, continuous stream with a minimum of "glugging" (which can stir up the sediment).

If you like, you can use a candle or light underneath the bottle to see when the sediment enters the shoulder, but it is easier, if you have a marked jug, simply to stop pouring when the wine reaches the 720ml mark. Discard the last 30ml and rinse any remaining sediment out of the empty bottle with warm water. Now pour the decanted wine back into the bottle, using a funnel if necessary.

Decanting is not just for old wines. In fact it is clear that younger wines benefit most from decanting and breathing, which "opens them up". If it is some time before a wine will be served, the bottle can be loosely recorked. This is recommended for very old wines, which may deteriorate quickly once exposed to air. And, of course, if you have a beautiful crystal decanter, by all means pour the wine into it, rather than back into the bottle.

The Right Glasses
Glassware can make a big difference to the way a wine tastes. Try the same wine out of a tumbler and a fine, thin-walled wine glass. The wine always seems to taste better out of a good glass. Expert opinion is growing that these differences in taste are not merely psychological.

While there are many different glass designs, they tend to be driven by fashion rather than the needs of serious wine drinkers. Nevertheless, some companies, notably Riedel, have developed fine glasses that clearly enhance the taste of particular wine styles.

A good, all-purpose wine glass need not be expensive. It should have a total capacity of about 220ml and be slightly tapered or tulip-shaped at the top, which helps to concentrate the bouquet when the wine is swirled around in the glass before nosing. After all, much of what we "taste" is really what our nose tells us about the wine.

Make sure your glasses are clean, which means careful rinsing in warm or hot water and avoidance of the use of detergent in washing. Glasses should be stored upright and aired before use. Do not use glasses straight out of an old cupboard or sideboard, or straight from a cardboard box. Sniff a glass straight out of a box or cupboard and you can easily detect the musty or cardboard smell.