If you ask any of my friends or family what my choice of drink is – they would tell you wine (or tequila) haha. I love Prosecco and dry wines; Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris (just to name a few).
Sabir and I have a tradition where we re-create wine tastings at home whenever there is a huge snow storm. Since it’s just us two, we try to find mini bottles of wine but if that’s not possible, then we just stick to full bottles and use these wine stoppers to preserve what we don’t drink.
We also love to host wine tasting parties for our friends and family. There’s nothing better than drinking and eating with the ones you love! I hope these tips help when you start to plan your next party ☺.
*This post is not sponsored. I was gifted the first box of wine from Winc, however, my opinions are my own. You guys know how much I love wine and I am extremely excited they reached out to me!
the wines
What’s a wine tasting without the wine? Pick a price range, potentially a region, and grab a variety of different wines (white, red, bubbly). I found it way easier to use a wine delivery service, like Winc! You get to try different wines you haven’t seen before and it takes the hassle out of having to go to the store. The best part is, you take short online quiz and they choose a selection that would best suit you. You can swap bottles out or add more to your cart. Depending on the number of guests, you’ll most likely be adding haha. For a party of 8 to 10 people, plan on ordering 2 bottles of each wine.
If you’re interested, click here for $22 off your first box, plus pay nothing for shipping!
the food
It’s best to stick with finger foods that pair well with the wines you select. You also want to ensure you have a few palate cleansers available to your guests, such as plain crackers or bread.
If you decide to serve dinner as well, Winc makes it EXTREMELY easy to choose an entrèe. They provide recipes that pair well with the wines you received in your box (they even have vegetarian)! Here is a sample of the menu I chose:
Tasting menu
Charcuterie Board
Cucumbers and Hummus
Olives stuffed with Garlic
Tomato, Vegan Mozzarella, and Basil Skewers drizzled in Balsamic
Watermelon, Vegan Feta, and Mint Skewers drizzled in Balsamic
Dark Chocolate
prepare your space
Keep it simple. Avoid fragrant candles and flowers near the tasting area because it will interfere with your guests senses. The last thing you want is for people smelling notes of your Volcano candle instead of the wine lol. I love to use tea light candles because they are more intimate and are scentless.
Wine Glasses
If possible, provide a red, white and champagne glass to each guest for the tasting. If you’re keeping it informal, then one glass per person is fine as well. I chose to use a champagne glass for the sparkling rosè and a red glass for the reds and whites.
Water Carafe & Glasses
Don’t forget to have water easily accessible! Everyone will need a little to wash down their palate cleansers between tastings!
If you choose to use one glass per guest, then definitely have a carafe of water with a bucket near by. You are going to want to use this when switching between your reds and whites. Pour a small amount of water in each glass, swirl it around, and throw the water in the bucket. The bucket can also be used for wines that people don’t like. There have been countless times where I took a sip of a wine, didn’t like it, and I dumped it in the little bucket haha.
Wine Pourer or Preservation System
I would skip this if you hare having a small party. However, if your guest list is on the larger side, then I would definitely get a wine pourer to ensure you are giving everyone 2 – 3 oz pours (each bottle has about 10 taste servings). I have a heavy hand when it comes to filling glasses so this is a must haha.
The party
First thing’s first – pop open a bottle of bubbly (I prefer sparkling Rosè or Prosecco) so that your guests can relax and mingle before diving into the wine tasting.
Use score cards to make it interactive! There are a ton of cute free one’s online. I decided on this one and had my local UPS store printed on stock paper! In order to keep your guests talking, provide a wine guide printout or book so that they have something to reference! Check out this guide for the 4-step wine tasting method (p. 11).
When it comes to the actual tasting, serve your wine in the following order:
Sparkling → White → Rose → Red
Make sure you serve sparkling wines very cold, whites and rosès cold, and reds at a cool room temperature.
To spice things up, you can completely conceal each bottle to have a blind wine tasting party! I like to wrap each bottle in wrapping paper (only covering the label) & hang a number tag around each one. You can also place each bottle in a brown paper bag and number them that way.
Hope you enjoyed this post and learned a little something about hosting your next tasting! Cheers!
Shop the Post
There is definately a great deal to learn about this topic.
I really like all the points you made.
Thank you so much 🙂
Thank you so much 🙂 That is great to hear! I hope your community enjoys!
Hi There! What platform are you using? I use wordpress; there is a “mobile” view you can switch to if you want to make it more mobile friendly!
Great post.
Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and
found that it’s really informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels.
I’ll appreciate if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who has been conducting
a little homework on this. And he in fact ordered me lunch due to the fact
that I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….
Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk
about this issue here on your web site.
No problem at all 🙂 glad you enjoyed and hope you have an amazing meal!
Thank you so much :)! I have a subscription box on the homepage 🙂
Sweet blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo
News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
Many thanks
Here is my homepage: Indoor Planters
Thank you so much! Unfortunately, I am not sure how to get listed in Yahoo News! I was not even aware that my blog was listed there! Thank you for letting me know!