There is a version of this article all over the internet. It tells you wine is relaxing, that it is good for your heart, that there is something in the grape skins doing you a favour. We are not going to write that one. Wine is alcohol. The pleasure is in the drink and in the evening around it, not in a benefit it is doing to you.
What is worth writing is how to get more out of the bottle you have already opened. Most of it is small and none of it costs anything.
Get the temperature right
This is the one that changes the most. White served straight from the fridge tastes of very little. Take it out twenty minutes before you pour. Red served at a modern room temperature tastes mostly of alcohol. Fifteen minutes in the fridge fixes it. Cool rather than cold for the white, cool rather than warm for the red.
Use a bigger glass than you think
A glass with room in it gives you something to smell. Fill it a third full. That is not meanness, it is the point. Any fuller and there is no air above the wine.
Put food next to it
Most wine is built for a table. It was made in places where nobody drinks a glass on its own, and it shows. Tannin in a red wants fat and salt. Acidity in a white wants oil and lemon. You do not need a rule book, you need a plate. There is more on that in our guide to pairing.
Slow down
Smell it before you drink it. Take a small sip and hold it a second before you swallow. Then decide what you think of it. A glass drunk quickly tells you nothing.
Buy fewer bottles and better ones
Most people would get more out of wine by drinking less of it and spending a little more on what they do drink. One bottle worth paying attention to beats two you finish without noticing.
The part nobody puts in these articles
UK guidance is the same for everyone. Fourteen units a week, spread over three days or more, with days off in between. A large glass of most wine is more than two units, so fourteen goes faster than people expect. The Chief Medical Officers are also clear that there is no completely safe level of drinking. We sell wine, and we would rather say that plainly than write around it.
If any of that is a worry for you, speak to your GP. Not to a wine shop.
That is the whole method
Right temperature, a decent glass, something to eat, and time. After that it is only a question of what is in the bottle. Ours are here.