PartyPlanningMag.com

Wine tasting parties are very popular. They are easy to plan, interesting and very social. This party theme works with a smallish crowd, even if many of your friends don’t know each other. Here’s how to host a wine tasting party.

Specifying your wine theme

Do you whish to be sepcific about what sort of wine tasting party you want? You can have themes like Blindfold Tasting, All Whites or The French Connection etc. Your theme will obviously determine what wines you serve. Your local bottle shop can probebly be helpful in selecting wines to go with your chosen theme. You should have at least 5 different types of wine to taste.

Invitations

For a more informal wine tasting party, send invitations using electronic invitations from somewhere like evite.com. For a more formal gathering, send printed invitations with a graphic of a bottle of wine and a cheese platter.

Wine Appreciation 101

White wines are to be served chilled and red wine should be served at room temperature.

Here are a few points to remember when pouring the wine:

• Serve about 10 samples from each bottle
• If you are mixing white and red wines, serve the whites before the reds and the dry before the sweet. pale red wines are served in between red and white
• Fill the glass about one third full. This is mainly to avoid spilling, but also in order to allow for samples from different wines

Examining the wine
When tasting, the first thing you do is looking at the wine and examining it. Look at the color and clarity of the wine. Younger wines are often clearer than older wines.

Smelling the wine
After examining the wine, you smell it. Swirl the wine around in the glass to release the aroma. Take a good smell and try to tell the different fragrances apart. This gets easier with more practice.

Tasting the wine
Finally, you taste the wine. Sip it and roll it around using your tongue. This is important as different parts of the tongue registers different tastes. Can you taste the dryness / fruitiness / sweetness etc.?

Remember to have lots of room temperature water available.

Selecting Food

The food should follow the theme of the party. For example, if your theme is French wine you can have French cheese to go with it.

Since wine is the main focus of the party, keep the food to cheese, fruit, crackers, bread etc. Make sure the food compliments the wine.

After the main tasting you can serve chocolate desserts with a nice dessert wine or coffee.

Spice it up

It’s a good idea to spice up the party with a competition and a prize for the winner. This is especially fun if your theme is Blindfold Tasting.

This party theme is a lot of fun, and it might just become a regular thing amongst you friends!