If you like wine, food, and hanging out with friends, a wine tasting party brings a few of your favorite things together for a night to remember. Knowing how to host a wine tasting party isn’t rocket science — or sommelier science, if you will.
But taking time to learn how to open a bottle properly and say a few words about each pour will help you “wow” your guests.
Once you’ve gotten those things down, what else do you need to know about how to host a wine tasting party?
Choose Your Wine With Care
Experts have varying wine tasting party ideas. Some believe the host should provide all the wine and food, at no cost to guests. Others suggest guests chip in to fund the party. Some tout the benefits of bring-your-own-bottle, with enough to share, of course.
If you shoulder it all, you’ll be guaranteed an evening that meets your standards, but it can get costly.
If you’re choosing the wine, you can pick a theme. Opt for a collection of rosés to celebrate spring; group together some of your favorite reds like Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Malbec; or even break out the bubbly.
You can also follow Billy Joel’s lead in the classic “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and serve “a bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of rose, instead …”
Whatever you choose, make sure you have wine enough for everyone.
How Much Wine Do You Need for a Successful Wine Tasting Party?
How much wine you need depends on the size of your crowd and the generosity of your pours. But math is math. A 750ml bottle contains about 25 ounces of wine, enough for five 5 oz. glasses. Four or five varietals should be enough to keep the conversation going.
Buy a bottle or two extra of each wine so people can continue drinking their favorite after the formal tasting part of the evening ends.
Make Sure You Have the Right Glasses and Accessories
You’ll also need the right wine glasses, but you don’t need to spend a fortune. You should use wide-rimmed goblets with big bottoms for reds and traditional white wine glasses for whites and rosés. Of course, you want sparkling wine glasses for prosecco and other bubblies.
Give your event some flair with wine glasses commemorating your occasion or even custom labels for the wine bottles. If it’s a repeat event, have each guest’s wine glass engraved with their name. You can even create your own logo for your wine tasting club.
If you don’t want to give each guest their own personalized wine glass, consider wine charms to keep guests from getting confused during the tasting.
And stock up on personalized wine stoppers to get a few more days out of leftover wine. (Leftover wine? What’s that?) These also make great party favors for your guests.
Don’t Forget the Food
If you’re inviting guests to your home and expecting to polish off multiple bottles of wine, you have to feed everyone. To cut costs, you can suggest a potluck where each guest brings a side and you offer the main course.
You can also do small plates; serve a variety of appetizers and snacks, with each course corresponding to the wine being served. The important thing is to make sure everyone eats enough to keep the night going.
Relax and Enjoy
Wine tasting parties don’t have to be pretentious. All you need is food, wine, friends, and fun. It helps to prepare a short, two- to three-minute speech about each bottle. Enlist the help of one of your guests, or hire help, to pour the wine while you share a bit about its history and region.
Hand out small notebooks or paper so guests can share their thoughts on each wine and compare notes. And make sure to leave time at the end to go back to everyone’s favorite bottles.
A wine tasting party should be a stress-free event filled with laughter. We hope these wine tasting party ideas help you create a night to remember.
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