Best wine parties ever! This is how you do IT!
Cheers!
Wine should be fun! Let’s play!
Wine fun?
Seems to0 serious sometimes!
Play? Like games?
Let’s Talk!!
I will keep talking and adding to this fantastic list as I think of more ideas!!
The first great thing about wine parties is that it all starts with wine.
Any wine!
Any wine?!?!
Yep, any wine! Or wines!
Wine should be easy and fun.
Do not say, “I don’t know wine.”
That is like saying you don’t know food because you aren’t a chef or don’t cook.
You know enough to know what tastes good and what doesn’t!!
Get over this negativity!
In case you want to know more, I have a post called “Top 10 things you need to know to have a useful wine vocabulary.” Find it HERE.
or here.
Or you can just read this…
Really quick wine tasting guide:
See: Looking at the appearance of wine is fine, but don’t go overboard. Some people like to know what to expect from the first pour. It’s up to you how much you care. If the wine looks awful for whatever reason, that should be a no-go!
Swirl and sniff: You can swirl or not, but it does help with the sniffing part. Look at the aroma as the preview for a movie. The aroma could get you excited about what you are going to taste, or leave your hopes dashed. Could go any which way. I like the anticipation.
Sip: Now you can taste. Swirl around in your mouth or just take a slurp. Up to you! Do you like it or not? Need to think about it? The first sip should pretty much tell you if you want another.
Savor: This is what I find the most important. Is the wine worth savoring? Is there any sort of finish to the wine? Will I want to drink it again and again? Totally unmemorable? Somewhere in between?
This is enough to know.
READY?
Let’s Party!
There are so many different kinds of wine parties!!
Most wine-tasting parties compare different wines.
Educational! (But fun!)
Saying it is educational is how you justify drinking that many different wines.
In all honesty, a wine-tasting party is a great way to learn what wines you like!
Now to the different kinds of parties.
How competitive do you want this?
Let’s hope not this competitive!!
Even wine may not make this fun!
More like this?
Tea and crumpets, anyone?
Too low key? Perfect low key vibe?
Let’s see where we end up.
Blind wine tasting is tasting a wine without knowing the identity of the wine.
IT DOES NOT MEAN TASTING BLINDFOLDED. That’s an entirely different party scene, but you do you.
Blind wine tasting keeps you from judging a wine by its label!!
Get rid of the bias!
It can be a fun addition to any wine party.
If you lean more to the competitive side, have winners and losers:
If you really want to get competitive, do a deductive wine tasting. Yep, pretend you are trying to be a master sommelier. Have guests try to determine what each wine is, where it is from, and what year. The Court of Master Sommelier and the WSET have insanely detailed tasting grids for this.
Personally, I find this too serious for a party.
Again, you do you.
Some other competitive game ideas would be:
Putting wines in price order
Have a description of specific wines and match it to the bottle
California versus France - can you guess?
Champagne versus other sparkling wines - again, can you tell?
Old World Versus New World (For simplicity's sake, that is Europe versus the rest of the world)
France versus Italy
Give prizes or bragging rights to the winners!
WARNING: No one wants to made out to be a fool! EVER!
Any of these ideas would be good on a non-competitive level too.
Let’s add more ideas:
You can learn from all of them so you can choose wines you like more often.
Compare wine prices:
Have guests bring wine within a certain price range. Vote on the favorite.
Provide the same type of wine at different price points. Vote on whether the price is worth it.
Pick any wine regions to compare:
Napa versus Sonoma
Bordeaux versus Burgundy (these will be different grapes!)
Australia versus New Zealand (Each have a bunch of regions)
Compare wine varietals:
Find out if you prefer Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Malbec, Sangiovese. COMPARE! (Of course there are differences even with the same grape types, but it is a fun start)
See what wines taste good with what foods: Line up wines and taste them before and after you try a certain food. (Some are shockingly different, some very little)
Play around with vertical tastings and horizontal ones:
In case you just rolled your eyes that such things exist, they aren’t complicated.
A vertical tasting is the same wine comparing different years.
A horizontal tasting compares different wines from the same year.
Try comparing wine styles:
See if you can find wines that are big and bold, and compare them with more elegant wines. (I tend to be a fan of knock your socks off wines, but many people are not.)
Compare wines with different levels of alcohol.
Compare organic/natural wines to more conventional
Instead of comparing, come up with fun descriptions of the wines. Get creative. Example: “Pairs well with BBQ ribs, steak, Humboldt Fog cheese, reading 90s fantasy novels by candlelight, and Tuesdays.” That was an actual quote from the label of a Malbec wine from absolutioncellars in Morro Bay California! Check them out. One of their wines supposedly pairs well with a scary movie marathon. FUN!
You could even come up with a MadLibs idea of your own!
REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN WITH ALL OF THIS!
Sign up below for great wine advice and suggestions!
-----
Sign up below for great wine advice and suggestions! -----
As with any party, get the right vibe going!
Wine-tasting parties are huge for bridal showers/bachelorette parties. Some of these may even involve going to a winery. Woo! If that is the case read my post on “Incredibly helpful advice for tasting in wine country or even close to home.” Hint: click on the links to get it.
Decorate with the mood you are trying to have.
If you want to keep it serious, just offer crackers. (Hardly a party, though. Just saying.)
For more fun (and alcohol absorption), get some great finger foods or a charcuterie platter. Cheese!
ALWAYS MAKE SURE THERE IS WATER!
Hydrate.
Those little glasses of wine add up!
Speaking of wine glasses, you will need a bunch. As for how exactly how many you will need, that will depend on your setup.
Are you going to do wine flights? All the wines at once?
This is going to take a lot of stemware!
It does look impressive though.
No need to make it hard for cleanup.
Still a lot of glasses though.
Maybe just pour as you go?
Fewer glasses this way.
You can figure out the logistics as you go along. It will depend on the number of guests, how many wine glasses you own, and how many you want to wash after.
You will need a way to keep the glasses identified. There are tags for them you can look for. I happen to like using a non permanent marker for each glass or a sticker.
Have a way to keep notes and scoring for games.
Get creative!!
At the end of the day, just have fun with wine.
Exactly!!
