A wine tasting party is a great way to enjoy wine with friends. It is also easier than you might think! If you are hosting your first ever wine tasting, than simplicity is key. You don’t want to make the event too complicated, especially since drinking wine shouldn’t be a stressful event.
Here is a quick and simple guideline to throwing your wine tasting party.
1) Choose a theme.
Your theme doesn’t need to be elaborate. Any wine related theme will do. You can select a specific varietal like Riesling, or a wine making region like the Niagara region. You can combine the two and make your theme Rieslings from the Niagara region. You can also be more creative and pick your five favourite Rose wines in honour of the summer.
If you want to do something more advanced you can try a vertical tasting. A vertical tasting is based on different vintages of the same wine from the same producer or winery. This is a great way to discover how much a wine can change with age. A horizontal tasting is when you taste different wines from the same vintage. Both can be challenging, but very interesting.
2) Choosing the right time.
The best time to have your tasting is either before lunch or before dinner. It is not a good idea to serve food during the wine tasting. Ideally, you can serve plain bread or breadsticks to cleanse the palate between wines. Afterwards, you can serve some appetizers or a full meal.
3) Setting up.
Make sure that your set up is nice and simple. There shouldn’t be anything distracting or scented, because your tasters won’t be able to focus properly. Include one tasting glass for everyone. If you are doing a smaller tasting, and you have enough glasses you can set up different glasses for each wine. But, it isn’t necessary as long as your guests rinse out their glasses with a little bit of water between each wine. Remember to serve your wines from light to dark.
Click here to select your tasting glasses from Rosehill Wine Cellars.
It is a good idea to make sure that each taster has a white surface, so that they can properly observe the colour of their wine. You should also provide writing materials. This will allow your guests to make notes on what they smell and taste. You can also provide spittoons. Your spittoon can be a large mug or a simple plastic cup. Make sure that you also offer drinking water and napkins.
For tips on how to taste wine properly click here.
4) Getting creative.
Don’t be afraid to be creative with your wine tasting. Plan some games at the end, or make some wine cocktails to enjoy with your meal after the tasting. You can also include a blind tasting of the wines you tried.
A blind tasting is an easy thing to set up. Simply, place each wine bottle in a bag to hide the label. Then pour a small amount in each guests wine glass, and have them guess which wine it is. If you have a larger amount of wines to taste, you can have them guess a wine that they have already tasted during the tasting. Or you can include a new wine that is related to your chosen theme.
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