Wine Service Recommendations
Opening that special bottle you've been saving is an exciting moment. We want to make your experience enjoying Hirsch wines the best it can be. We've compiled a list of our wine service recommendations below. For more on aging and cellaring our wines, click here.
First, place your bottle upright and give the wine time to settle before drinking. For young Pinots, 24 hours is sufficient. For older bottles, the wine's age determines how long this could take. For a 10-year-old Pinot, it should settle within a few days. A 20-year-old red could require longer. The goal is to stand the bottle upright until the wine becomes perfectly clear. You can check the clarity using a small high intensity flashlight at different levels of the bottle (shoulder, body). No old wine should be opened until it’s brilliantly clear and the sediment completely settled.
Our bottles are closed with natural cork. For our younger wines, a regular corkscrew should be fine to open them. We love a simple Pulltap waiter wine key.
For older bottles, we recommend using an Ah-so or a Durand. Older corks are more fragile and can break when opening. If the cork does crumble when opening, you can pour the wine through unbleached cheesecloth or muslin, or use a stainless steel funnel with a built-in sieve.
When releasing new wines, we always include recommendations for decanting and how long to let the wine breathe. Typically, our young wines do not need decanting, but there are exceptions, and these will be noted in our release letters. You're always welcome to email us as well. We do recommend opening most of our Pinot Noirs at least 2 to 3 hours before drinking, if drinking them young.
Decanting older wines is a matter of debate. Decanting introduces oxygen, and for fragile, older wines, that can accelerate a wine's demise. However, it gives you the opportunity to remove any sediment that has accumulated during the aging process. Again, a flashlight can help you determine if sediment is a potential issue. For our Pinots, we typically do not see much sediment in the first 10 to 15 years, and even then, it's usually not enough to justify decanting. Don't overthink it; do what makes you comfortable.
For our Chardonnay and Rosé, we recommend serving warmer than a standard refrigerator. 55 to 58 degrees F is ideal. Our Pinot Noirs are best served around 60 to 62 degrees F.