Wine Tasting Party Ideas

A wine tasting party can be great fun, at the same time informative, as you can gain experience regarding different types of wines and wine tastes. However, like any other party, careful planning is inevitable for wine tasting parties too. Even though, the basic idea of wine tasting party is almost same as organizing any other party, the requirements can differ as per the theme. In case of wine tasting parties, you need an assortment of wines, wine glasses, tasting notes and matching food.

Wine Tasting Parties

You may think that hosting a wine tasting party is a difficult task. This is a misconception and like any other party, wine tasting parties can be organized successfully, if you have a basic idea about such parties. The main activity in such a party is tasting different wine types and recording the findings of tasters, regarding the taste, aroma, acidity and texture of individual wines. So, the basic requirement is different types of wines. You need wine glasses to serve the wine. The guests can note down the taste of wines in tasting notes. You have to provide them with spittoon, as the guests may require such arrangement. Apart from enjoying the party, you can gain experience in different wine types and tastes. As we all know, a little bit of planning can be of great help in organizing such parties.

Inviting Guests

First of all, make a list of guests and send them invitations. Make sure that the guests are of legal drinking age, as per the laws of the region. It will be better, if you invite people, who have interest in wines and wine tasting. Before sending them invitations, you may select a theme for the party. The theme will be related to the type of wines to be poured during the party. For example, you can for the different types of wine from a specific region or foreign wines or types of white wines or red wines or Italian wines. You can be either inform the guests through phone or send them invitation cards. Home wine tasting party ideas include making invitation cards in the shape of wine bottles or wine glasses.

Selection of Wines

Wines are the most important part of a wine tasting party. If you have good knowledge about wines and wine tasting, you can select the types of wines for the party. Otherwise, seek help from wine experts and fix the party theme, which is nothing other than the types of wines to be served during the party. You may either arrange for the whole lot of wine required for the party, or a unique idea for wine tasting can be to ask each guest to bring a specific type of wine. Make sure that you have at least six different types of wines for the party.

Other Requirements

Apart from wines, another important requirement for a wine tasting party is drinking equipment or wine accessories, which include wine glasses, lint-free white cloth for cleaning the glasses, room temperature water for cleaning glasses or for drinking, spittoon for spitting wine. Tasting notes can be distributed to the guests, who may wish to note down the wine tastes. Another important requirement is the matching food. It will be better to serve food before wine tasting, as the food may spoil the flavor of wine, if consumed together. Apart from that, tasting wine with empty stomach is also not advisable. While tasting wine, you can serve the guests with neutral palate cleansers, like, unsalted crackers, bread and munchies. After wine tasting, you can serve other finger foods, cheese and chocolates.

Wine Tasting

In order to get the right taste, wines have to be served at correct temperatures, which can vary with different types of wines. If you are not conversant with this, you may either bring some wine expert or act as per his instructions. In general, you have to serve sweet wines before dry wines, as the former can spoil the taste of latter. Similarly, white wines have to be served before red wines. Blush wines and rose wines can be served in between white and red wines. Wine tasting involves three steps. The first step is to determine the color, clarity and transparency and the second step involves sniffing the wines and checking their fragrance. The third and most important part of wine tasting is tasting itself. It is done by taking a sip and rolling it over the tongue, so that body, sweetness, tartness, bitterness, and fruitiness of the wine can be found out. These are some of the basic wine tasting ideas.

While the above said are only the basic requirements for a fun-filled wine tasting party. You can make it more enjoyable by adding some party games and gifts. There are serious wine tasting parties, which are more focused on the methods and types of wine tasting. Such parties can be arranged under the supervision of experienced wine tasters. So, organize a wine tasting party and enjoy.