Buying Wine
  Storing Wine
  Serving Tempuratures
  Extracting the Cork
  Glassware
  Saving what's left
  Food Pairing
  Varietals

Glassware.

You can consume wine out of any glass, cup, or tumbler -- or a mug, for that matter. But there are reasons why wine glasses are preferred: the design of the glass helps you see, smell, and taste the wine best.

Wine glasses vary in size, shape and design, but good ones will be clear and unadorned (so you can view the color and clarity of the wine), not too thick (so the glass doesn't obstruct your contact with the wine), and with a stem long enough so you can hold the glass without handling the bowl (which raises the temperature of the liquid).

Most good wine glasses are tulip-shaped (they narrow toward the rim of the glass) to channel the volatile aroma and flavor essences of the wine into the nerve receptors at the rear of your nasal cavity when you sniff the wine. As a rule, the bowls of red wine glasses are larger and wider than those for whites.

Most table wines are served in moderately-sized (8-10 oz.) glasses, while dessert wines fare better in smaller (6 oz.) glasses, and sparkling wines require a taller, more slender glass known as a champagne flute, which keeps the bubbles from dissipating. You can buy quality glasses in each of these basic categories for about $5 each.

For true connoisseurs willing to spend more, there are glasses specifically designed to highlight the attributes of different wine types. The most famous producer of such glassware is Georg Riedel, an Austrian whose collections of crystal stemware are favored by restaurateurs and professional wine tasters throughout the world.

Regardless of the glassware you choose...

Keep enough glasses on hand to accommodate dinner parties and other social occasions.

When serving wine, don't fill the glass more than half-full, so the taster can swirl the wine in the bowl to release its aromas, without spilling.

Clean glasses by hand-washing them in lukewarm water with a small amount of soap. (Be sure to rinse off all the soap!) And don't leave glasses in a dish drainer - they'll wind up getting broken.

Store clean glasses upright on a well ventilated shelf, or better yet, hang them upside down from a wooden glass rack.