How to Host a Wine Tasting
Hey folks! I’ve been doing a lot of tastings at my place lately, so this guilty pleasure post is all about how to host a tasting! Whether it’s sampling new beers, wines or cheeses, hosting a tasting can be a really fun party idea you can do at home!
This post will focus on a wine tasting, but you can adapt it to really any food or drink you’d like to sample. Let’s get started!
How to Host a Great Tasting!
1. Try New Things! You may be holding yourself back by thinking you have to know about everything you serve at a tasting, but you DON’T! It’s part of the fun of trying new things – and everyone can do it together! So if there’s a brand or a flavor you’ve been meaning to try, this is the perfect time to get one…or more!
2. Keep Your Snacks Simple If you’re spending money on nice bottles of wine, you don’t need to go over-budget on snacks too. You can make a few snacks seem much larger by adding in more condiments. Thus, you have more ways to mix and match your munchies! If I’m serving wine, whether it’s just Joe and I or a bunch of guests, we have cheese and crackers and usually a few different spreads. Various jams and jellies, mustards, or other spreads can added in to the crackers and/or cheese for new flavors. We also put out a dish of nuts and dried fruit, like craisins, which act as palette cleansers.
3. Create Fun Choices Allow guests fun options like choosing their glass or wine charm. If you don’t have different ones, you could still make up some fun with creative name tags or printing a tasting sheet where guests create their own rating system! “I give this wine three classy cork tops!” If you’re looking for more wine accessory ideas, you can check out my earlier post here.
4. Do Some Research. Want to sound like the blokes you hear in wineries? Select your wine choices and look up their labels online! I learned a lot about the wine-making process and how to classify the notes and aromas in wine by reading consumer reviews! These fun facts can add to the experience for yourself and guests!
5. Dry to Sweet, White to Red When selecting your wine choices for the night, you’ll want to line up your wines in the best order for tasting. Generally, that is white wines before red and dry to more sweet, both of which will give the palette time to adjust to each new flavor. I like having at least one blush or rose wine to bridge the gap between white and red. You can line up your bottles based on the tidbits you learned online, or from the bottle label too!
6. Teach Your Guests Something About Tasting Besides little wine facts you pick up, you can also teach your guests how to taste like the pros! A true tasting allows the guest to really open their senses to the wine. There is more to wine than just swishing it around the front and back of your mouth. This video gives some quick tips on how to see, smell and taste your wine!
Bon appetit! Enjoy your wine tasting party! Virtual glasses all around!
What are your favorite party planning and hosting tips? Share your favorite party experiences in the comments below, both as a guest and a host! I’d love to hear your ideas!
Guilty Pleasures: Wine Accessories
It’s been a fun month this April despite the dreary weather we’ve had in the Midwest. Hosting numerous beer, wine and cheese tastings I feel downright indulgent! And it got me thinking about collections. Collections are guilty pleasures aren’t they? I’m betting I’m not the only one with a growing wine accessory collection.
I’ll Show You Mine, If you Show Me Yours…
Wine Charms –
I think one of the first items I received in my wine collection was a set of wine charms, and since then we’ve accumulated a few more! Wine charms are a fun and unique way of decorating one’s glass so throughout the night, as bottles go, you’ll remember which glass is your glass! Charms can be fun little rings around the stems of glasses, or even stickers meant to easily peel off when the night’s over! Here are a few of our charm sets – lovely gifts courtesy my honey’s mom! Thanks, Sharon!
Wine Stoppers –
If you’re not planning on finishing the bottle off that night, you may want a few wine stoppers on hand. We have some decorative ones, but we also have 2 that act both as a pouring spout and a stopper, which is nice I think for white wines especially. The photo below also shows off our wine aerator. Best used for red wines, an aerator does several things: First and foremost, it allows air back into the wine to show off its aroma and flavor a little faster than just leaving the bottle top open to vent. But it can also come with a strainer and catch any sediment in the bottle so it’s not going in the glass. We really only pull ours out when we’re trying to be fancy.
Wine Bottle Holders –
Ever plan on bringing a bottle of wine to a friend’s house, but feel like you have nothing to safely store the bottle in during travel? I love this little wine sock for that reason! It’s cute and practical when you’re taking your wine on the road! *And I mean that in the most safest of contests, you should always, ALWAYS buckle your wine bottle up when driving.* 😀
Wine Picnic Ware –
Those that have hung around The Happiness Project for awhile know I like my wine on the go. I’ll just say wine hiking is not for the faint of the heart, and do so at your own risk. Since then, another great gift from my honey’s mom was this portable wine cooler! It comes complete with compass and whistle! You’ll have to ask my Joe how they work because since the last time, he’s in charge now…
Wine in a Box –
Another wine travel aid is wine that comes ready to go – in a box! A fabulous road trip companion, it stores easily in the back seat or trunk, boxed wine does not have to taste like it was aged in a box! Joe and I are particular fans of the Bota Box collection and during hard economic times, this really is the way to go if you’re hosting a party.
Wine (in a box) For the Movies! –
Again, followers of this blog will recognize a little hobby of mine, which is sneaking wine into the movies! Who can afford the monstrous prices of soda these days? I’d rather sneak this little guy in my purse. There are several brands which are good, but being a nerdo for a play on words, I’m a fan of Bandit wine when I play Drinko McSneakery. This wine is best enjoyed with girlfriends, free plastic water cups from the concession stand (hint: do fill with water so as not to look conspicuous and to stay hydrated at the cinema!), and a movie along the lines of Twilight, Breaking Dawn Part 2. Trust me, it will make the movie better!
Those are just a few of my favorite wine accessories! What are some of yours? Do you have a favorite wine charm or stopper? Would you drink wine in a box? It’s getting cool now!
Almost as cool as this…
Why yes, that is a picture of me attending Jurassic Park 3D while wearing a Dinosaur hat. Jealous?!
Until next time, happy weekend everyone!
Jess Witkins' Happiness Project 