The Château La Barotte advises you to purchase wine to suit your needs.

The dry white Bordeaux Sauvignon and dry Bordeaux Rosé :

During the aperitif : plain or in cocktail, it is better to drink it well chilled (between 4 and 6 degrees) ;

During the meal : to serve chilled (between 6 and 8 degrees) placing your bottle in the door of the fridge two hours before being served.

When you serve the wine, pour it by small quantity to avoid it to warm in the glass and put the bottle in a bucket filled with fresh water or with some icecubes.

The red Bordeaux :

Our red Bordeaux needs to be served brought to room temperature which means 17 or 18 degrees. However, be careful when it is a hot day it may be necessary "to chill * " a little bit your wine. Indeed, if you drink your wine when it is too hot, it may not be enjoyed as it should be because alcohol and tannin would be too strong.

* to cool a bottle of wine in placing it in the door of the fridge or in the vegetable drawer about half an hour to reduce its temperature.You must know that a wine too cold can be warmed in the glass whereas a wine too hot can't be chilled.

It is deeply inadvisable to put a white wine or a rosé in the freezer or in the freezer compartment to cool it in rush, and it is not advisable to place a bottle of red wine near a heating, a fireplace or a cooker when it is too cold.

The ideal obviously is to have a ventilated cellar with an hygrometry which is around 70 to 80 % and constant temperature of 10 degrees.

On the other hand, it is always possible to have a wine cupboard as long as you pay a lot for it.

Fortunately, it is possible to preserve your wine in suitable ways in the storeroom or in a cupboard provided you follow some basic rules.

It will be indeed necessary to envisage some basic installations such as :

Bases to lay down bottles

A sufficient insulation to avoid temperature differences

A complete darkness and only a subdued lighting when it's necessary

No vibration

Two small railings bars of high and low aeration, in the opposite direction from each other, which will allow a good ventilation.

The ideal temperature of preservation is between 10 and 15 degrees, but in the storeroom or in the cupboard it will be more between 15 and 20 degrees which will cause a faster evolution of the wine.

If you want to follow the evolution of a vintage you have selected, the only way is to open a bottle.

Old vintages often have a deposit at the bottom of the bottle because of the settling of the wine, which shows that the latter has not been excessively filtered and that the wine alters with time (maturing).

The bottle stays standing during at least two days so that the settling takes place.

The operation consists then in decanting the vintage in a decanter with the aim of separating the wine and the sediment which settled in the bottom of the bottle.

It's necessary to open the bottle one or two hours before serving the wine, then pour it very slowly into the decanter with a funnel, by taking care of not mixing the wine with the sediment.

Your Bordeaux is going to be oxygenated, tannins are going to soften and acquire body. Then it's ready to be served in the best conditions.

It's to note that the youngest or the lightest wines are served slightly cooler and before stronger or older wines.