We love good wine and enjoy it even more when we have a wine tasting party.
If you would like some hints and suggestions on how to have a wine tasting party of your own, keep reading. Tailor these ideas to meet your own preferences, your locale, and the time of year you want to host a wine tasting party.
First, make sure you have good wine glasses. This is important to us. Why? Because nice crystal glasses will enhance all the aromas, flavors, and even textures of the wine. If you don’t want to use crystal then glass stemware works just as well. Glass wine glasses are more durable and less expensive than crystal. Check around to find the best drink ware that can be used with red, white, rose, and bubbly wines.
We like to clean the glasses with a lint-free cloth when we set the table. Water spots just don’t make the glasses look good. This is a wine tasting party after all. Wine is the main event.
If you will be comparing different wines at the same time, you’ll need more than one glass per person. Let’s say you are comparing four different Pinot Noir wines. Each person needs four glasses. I know…that’s a lot of glasses at the table. It is important, however, to be able to compare the wines side by side. Some wines will change the longer they are opened. Others will taste better with certain food.
You can either be the buyer of all the wines or you can ask your guests to bring a bottle of your themed wine. For example, Cabs over 10 years old, Malbec, Italian Sangiovese, Provence Rose, Spanish Rioja, Pinot Noirs from the US…you get the idea.
Keep in mind…this is how we have a wine tasting party. Each person will receive a small pour.
For food…make sure you plan food that goes with the wine. You can have a bunch of small bites or a sit-down meal. However you want to do your food is fine when you have a wine tasting party. Just make sure you have enough.
You can do a blind tasting where only one person knows which wine is in which glass. You will need to number or mark everyone’s glasses with a number or letter. You can have everyone guess which wine is the one they brought.
If you want your guests to learn something…research about the type of wines you’re tasting. If you are tasting old Cabs, find out about why Cabs taste better after a certain number of years in the bottle.
Maybe you’d like a surprise after the tasting is finished. How about a small nightcap, champagne, or a digestive? We don’t always do this when we have a wine tasting party, so it is up to you.
Lastly…even if you like candles, don’t use scented ones. Especially, don’t light them. They take away from the scents of the wines. Save them for another night.
Here is a short list of items you will need for a wine dinner.
- Corkscrews – have at least two corkscrews for an 8 person dinner
- Three to five wine glasses per person
- One person who will pour wine throughout dinner
- Two to three decanters
- Marker for marking glasses
- Pen and paper for keeping track of corresponding wines
Have fun when you have a wine tasting party of your own. Let us know how it went.
For more ideas, check out our blog https://www.forkscorksandbrews.com/forks/