Hacks to help you get the most out of your wine at Christmas

SO YOU call yourself a wine lover? Well maybe it’s time to spice up your relationship with it. These hacks will help you do just that.

WE’RE in peak festive season which means we’re also in peak wine-drinking season.

But if you’re sick of playing it safe and only using a glass and your mouth to consume wine, then these hacks are going to make life a little more exciting.

In a recent survey conducted by Cellarmasters, Australia’s leading wine delivery service, hundreds of customers revealed their best wine hacks and the company’s cellar director Christine Ricketts gave her expert advice on how to get the best out of your wine this Christmas.

DON’T DRINK HOT WINE

An Australian Christmas and hot weather go hand-in-hand but what shouldn’t be a part of that equation is hot wine.

If you forgot to chill your wines before all your friends and family arrive, there’s a quick way to do it and all it takes is some salt and ice.

Put your warm bottles in a bucket with ice and a bit of water. Throw in some salt and it won’t take long before your house guests stop whining about warm wine. And while the hack might’ve come from a Cellarmasters devotee, it’s something highly recommended by Christine.

“It’s true. Salt lowers the freezing point and makes water freeze quicker because it extracts heat from surroundings,” she said.

And while it’s important to have chilled wine on a hot summer’s day, Christine said it’s important to get the temperatures right for red and white.

“Our warm climate is not ideal for storing and drinking wine. The perfect temperature to drink red wine is around 14 degrees, which is why in Australia, red wine can taste better if kept in a fridge for a short time before drinking it — just 15 to 30 minutes is enough. When it comes to white wine, serving it too cold can dull the flavours, mask the aromas and increase its acidity.

Chill wine quickly by adding salt to the ice bucket

BEAT THE BOREDOM

If you’re regretting the time you bought 20 bottles of the exact same wine because it was on sale then there’s a way to mix things up a bit. You can use a SodaStream to turn it into a nice sparkling.

“You can make a decent sparkling wine if you use a light and refreshing pinot grigio or a fresh Australian riesling,” Christine said.

You can even make a spicier red by adding a dash of pepper to the bottle.

Another Cellarmasters fan even said they pour red wine into their ice cream. Christine said it was an interesting hack, but said it might be a nicer idea with a fortified wine, like a tawny port.

Add pepper to spice up your red wine

GET COOKING

If you’re happy to part with a few bottles for something other than drinking, it’s easy to integrate them into your mammoth Christmas cooking days.

When you’re about to glaze that giant leg of ham that’ll sit in your fridge for weeks after Christmas, grab a bottle of Moscato to do the job.

“Moscato is a sweet, lightly sparkling wine and works beautifully when making a ham,” said Christine. Here’s how to do it.

Heat a cup of Moscato wine with thyme sprigs and shallot over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a rapid boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the wine reduces by half. Remove the saucepan from the heat and discard thyme sprigs. Add in some apricot jam, brown sugar and mustard, and whisk. Place the ham on a roasting tray and brush half the glaze mixture over it, then transfer to the oven, uncovered, and bake for 90 minutes. Baste the ham with remaining glaze mixture every 30 minutes.

It’s easy to glaze a ham with wine.

You can also make an entire cake using a bottle of rosé. Hunter Valley winemaker Gwyn Olsen finetuned her own Rosélly — a Rosé jelly cake.

“It’s easy to make, looks incredible and you can mix it with your favourite fruits. Serve chilled, and it will be the perfect cake to enjoy on a summer picnic,” she said.