6 Tips for Hosting a Wine Tasting Party One of the pivotal moments when wine finally began to make sense to me was the first time I tasted an array of wines alongside each other. This situation provides a perspective that is extremely difficult to achieve if you only ever taste one wine at a time. But when was the last time you opened five bottles of wine for yourself? What is the solution to this quandary? Grab a few bottles and invite some friends over! Hosting a wine tasting party is an easy and engaging means of experiencing wine, and these tips guarantee a successful sipping soirée. 1. Choose a Theme Variety - Sample what a specific wine variety tastes like from different regions. For example, try comparing Pinot Noir from New Zealand's Central Otago, California’s Russian River Valley, Oregon’s Dundee Hills, Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits, or California’s Sonoma Coast. Value - Choose a specific dollar amount. It is always great to find a new score at a great price point.

Style - Taste through a series of similarly styled wines. For example, select an array of “crisp, dry white wines” or “rich, bold reds” or “dessert wines.” Region - Choose a specific region and taste through several wines unique to that wine-making area. Vintage - Try finding multiple vintages of the same wine. This might end up being a pricier or more difficult-to-find lineup, but it is enlightening to taste how much age and vintage variation impact a wine's flavor profile. Blind Tasting - Pour wines into decanters or pitchers, labeling them by number, or simply wrap the bottles in foil or serve from brown bags, disguising their identity. This is a fun and conversationally interactive way to really taste wines objectively. If you have a trusted wine shop with knowledgeable staff, have them select the wines for you, so even you are in on the blind! Random - All else aside, having everyone bring a bottle of wine seems to work out, as well! 2. Keep the Party Intimate & Purchase Accordingly

Limit the guest count to 10 or fewer. A small, intimate group encourages conversation, and it's easy to pour out single bottles into these portions. Once you exceed this guest count, you'll have to consider having duplicates of each wine, in order for everyone to obtain a sip. How much wine should there be per person? A bottle of wine is about 24 ounces, so you could conceptually pour 12 2-ounce tastes from each bottle. From experience, however, count on guests wanting to re-taste. If you're personally supplying the wine, count on half a bottle per person for a light tasting, but more realistically one bottle per person. Start small and pour short tastes for each guest. Provide spit buckets, for those who don’t want to get too tipsy. 3. Stock the Necessary Supplies Glassware - Allotting one glass per person is absolutely fine; however, if possible, I would suggest having two glasses per person, to better taste and compare wines simultaneously. Palate Cleansers - Set out plenty of water crackers or a simple bread for palate cleansers.

Spit Buckets - Allow your guests the opportunity to get rid of unwanted wine. Documentation - Provide pens and paper for taking wine notes or print out this handy tasting grid.sweet red wine whole foods White Background & Clear Glassware - Color is an important aspect when comparing wines, so avoid tinted glassware, provide optimal lighting, and provide a white background (I used rolls of white craft paper).wine and beer healthier 4. Serve the Right Foodbest bottle of wine for 50 If you’re feeling really adventurous, try doing a little extra research on how the acids, tannins, and sugar in foods interact with wines. Try tasting bitter chocolate, salted nuts, acidic lemon, or creamy cheese alongside the same wine to see how wine reacts to various components.

This is an excellent lesson in food and wine pairing. And make sure that guests know what kind of food will be served, so they don't arrive with an empty stomach, when you're only serving light hors d'oeuvres. Small Bites for a Wine Party - Recipes from the Kitchn Baked Ricotta with Lemon, Garlic & Chives Fig & Olive Tapenade for Blue Cheese Puff Pastry Cheese Straws 5. Set the Table Let guests know to refrain from wearing perfumes or scented lotions that might compete with the wines' aromas. Avoid decorating with scented candles or aromatic flowers, for the same reason. Check out a few wine books from the library to have on hand, if any questions come up. A few of my favorites are Wine: A Tasting Guide by Marnie Old, The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil, and The Wine Lover's Companion by Herbst & Herbst. 6. Serve the Wine Correctly Depending upon which sort of party you're hosting, the serving order of the wines may not matter that much at all, but if you have the opportunity, think about lining up the wines in this order: bubbles, light whites, rich whites, rosés, light reds, bold reds, and then dessert wines.

Try serving wines at the temperature they show best: bubbles 40-45 degrees, whites 40-50 degrees, and reds 55-65 degrees.Edit ArticleHow to Host a Wine Tasting Party Three Parts:Getting ReadyPutting Your Plan into ActionWine Scoring SheetCommunity Q&A Hosting a wine tasting party is a great way to do something fun, classy, and different with your friends. If the same light beers and bowl of sad pita chips and hummus is getting old, then you should mix things up by hosting a wine tasting party in the comfort of your home. All you need is some supplies, a bit of knowledge, and the willingness to try something new. If you want to know how to host a wine tasting party that's an even bigger hit than a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, then follow these steps.One of the most important parts of hosting a wine tasting is deciding what kind of wines you want to try. There's no right answer that will please all your guests or lead to a perfect party, but here are some suggestions:[1][2]

Sample different wines from one region, such as Napa Valley, Santa Barbara wine country, Willamette Valley, Rioja, New Zealand, the South of France, or whatever you like. Taste varietals produced in different parts of the world, such as drinking only the Cabernet Sauvignon produced in Napa Valley, France, or Argentina. Do a horizontal tasting. Taste only 2012 Chardonnays produced all over the world. This may be tricky to find, though. Do a tasting by one winemaker. If you really like Robert Mondavi, Cake bread, Stag's Leap, or Duckhorn wine, for example, try several different wines from this one winemaker. Sample only reds, whites, sparkling wines, or dessert wines. Just remember that dessert wines tend to be sweeter and may be more difficult to taste. Figure out the food situation. You shouldn't be eating during the wine tasting, other than the bread or crackers that will be needed to cleanse your palate. So, you should decide whether you want to give your guests a light meal before the tasting, serve dinner after the tasting, or serve appetizers or dessert after the tasting.

Ideally, some sort of food should be provided so your guests don't get wine drunk without anything to absorb the alcohol. You can tell your guests what the situation is when you invite them, so they know if they should come with a full stomach, or if they should prepare to eat. Get the right wine glasses. It's not realistic that you'll be able to give each of your guests a new wine glass before every new tasting. Realistically, just one glass per guest will do, or one longer, less oval-shaped glass for whites and a rounder, larger glass for reds, if you're feeling up to it. The glasses should have stems so the guests don't warm the wine with their hands. The glasses should be clear so the guests can see the color of the wine.There are a number of supplies you'll need to host a wine-tasting party in addition to the wine glasses. Here are some to get you started:[4][5]Pick your wines based on the theme you'll be going for. In general, it's good to have wines in different price ranges, from pretty cheap to more expensive, if you can afford it.

Make sure that you have enough wine for your guests -- a bottle of wine can pour 5 regular glasses of wine, or enough for 6-10 people to taste the wine. Back-up corkscrews in case yours break.This can either come in the form of a large bowl in the center of the table or as small paper cups for each guest. An ice bucket for chilling white wine. This will keep you from running to the fridge. A white tablecloth or white napkins. This will help your guests see the color profiles of the wines.This can help your guests identify the flavors of the wine and jot down their impressions. You can find some great ones online. An aerator or decanter for the wine. This can help bring out the flavors in a red wine. Bread or crackers to taste in between wines. Cups of ice water for your guests as well as a pitcher of water for the table.The ideal number of guests you should invite to a wine tasting should be between 6-12 people. If you have a nice big dining room table, invite enough people so that they can comfortably stand around it.

You don't want any extra people leaning over the group and making everyone feel uncomfortable. If you really want to be formal and fancy about it, you can send out nice invitations or e-vites. You should try to invite people who have a similar knowledge about wine. If everyone knows almost nothing, then that's fine, but you want to avoid the awkwardness of having just one person who knows absolutely nothing, or that one guy who is Mr. Wine Expert and tries to educate everyone else at great length. Pick a good time. Put everything out on the table. Put your wines out on the table so the guests can see what they're going to taste and get even more excited for the night. If the table's not big enough, arrange the wines on a visible counter. Arrange the glasses, water, napkins, crackers, bread, and paper cups or spittoons for your guests. Don't put out any flowers or scented candles. This strong aroma can make it more difficult to recognize the flavors of the wine. Opt for a bowl of grapes instead.

Master wine tasting techniques. Start tasting the wine. The order does matter when it comes to tasting wines. You should start from the lightest wine to the darkest, so work your way from a light white to a dark, flavorful red wine. If you have dessert wine on the menu, you should taste it last, even if it's a lighter color than some of the red wines. Wines that are similar, like the same varietal of wine for 2011 and 2012, should be tasted one after the other. Give people time to take notes. Let people write down their impressions and give them time to think about it. People may be a little shy about their impressions because they don't feel like experts, so make sure to make them feel comfortable. Giving everyone a minute to think will also keep people from getting affected by the opinions of others. Here are some things to look for as you take notes:[7]Any flavor or aroma that comes to mind should be written down, whether it's blackberry, honey, lemon, chocolate, pear, earth, or pomegranate.