IDEA #2: THROWING
A TASTING PARTY THAT ISN'T LAME!
For wine “cow-noisseurs”
such as ourselves, any occasion (or none
at all) to drink wine is a good one. In
particular, wine tasting can be both a lot
of fun and very informative, no matter what
the surroundings or circumstances. Whether
it’s an industry-organized event or
something you throw together yourself the
one thing to always keep in mind is that
it should be fun. If you are at someone
else’s tasting you can’t always
control the fun factor, but if you decide
to host your own make it a fun and entertaining
experience that people won’t soon
forget.
Often times people hear the term “wine
tasting” and they instantly imagine
a bunch of old stuffy “wine snobs”
gathered around a table, pen and paper in
hand, swirling, sniffing and spitting. This
sounds about as fun as a fluoride tasting
at your dentist. Our idea of a wine tasting
party is definitely far more casual, and
won’t send your friends running for
the door.
With this feature our goal isn’t to
tell you what kind of tasting party you
should have. But instead, we would like
to provide you with some general guidelines
to help whatever party you had in mind go
off without a hitch.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
First off, forget any plans that require
all of your guests to sit down together
at a table, unless it’s a card table.
Second, set the mood for your party with
some background music, chosen depending
on the crowd and the general vibe of your
party. Music is important because once all
of the wine has been drunk you will probably
want to turn the music up and shake your
groove thang! Finally, while all guy or
all girl parties can be fun, mixed gender
parties can make for an overall wider appeal.
SPECIFIC GUIDELINES
1. Who to
invite and/or not invite
Invite people who share general interests
and experience levels in wine. Having a
wine geek at a casual tasting party can
make people feel self-conscious. Nobody
wants to be lectured at while trying to
have a good time drinking wine. You want
to set a fun casual mood and save the educational
seminar for another time. But, if you do
invite the wine geek to help with the party
or provide insight into the wine, then make
sure they understand that it’s a party
first, so keep the extensive wine knowledge
at bay.
The same rule applies to anybody that doesn’t
drink or doesn’t like wine. If you
know someone that would prefer to drink
beer over wine then don’t bother inviting
them. They will more than likely spend the
whole time poking fun at the wine and other
people trying to enjoy themselves. Again,
this makes for an uncomfortable experience
when the actual idea is just to have a good
time with “wine”…and maybe
learn a thing or two along the way. Invite
the “beer only” people to your
next party that’s not specifically
geared around wine.
Keep the gathering focused around the folks
who are really interested in trying new
wines and the friends you know who would
love to try a variety of wines in a fun
atmosphere.
2. Planning
is Key
The location of the party is just as important
as how the floor plan is laid out. There
should be plenty of space around the area
where the wines are being poured. You want
people to be able to move around freely
and easily without having to squeeze by
one another, or risking a collision while
holding a glass of red wine. Open space
promotes more mingling and conversation.
It also allows people to more easily get
to the wine, which is definitely the most
important part.
Keeping the wine separated in a few different
locations, such as on either side of the
room, can help to open things up and avoid
crowding. Things can get too congested when
6 to 12 (or more) open bottles of wine are
all occupying a single space. Having to
walk around to different areas for wine
also keeps people moving so they don’t
get bored or tired.
3. Establish
a theme for your tasting
Every good party needs a theme, but this
doesn’t mean costumes. A theme for
a tasting party means determining what wines
will be poured. A free-for-all tasting requiring
guests to choose what wine to bring without
any guidelines will just end up unnecessarily
stressing your guests out. Usually this
ends up with a lot of crappy bottles of
wine anyway. Being more specific up front
will often produce more thought out options.
Themes can range anywhere from price to
location, vintage year to varietal. Or a
combination of any or all of them, such
as Washington Syrahs or 2003 wine from Red
Mountain. We’ll leave that up to you
to determine what kind of tasting party
you are interested in having, but below
are some possibilities to keep in mind:
• Mixed
varietals from a single vintage (different
grape, same year)
• Different
vintages of the same varietal (different
year, same grape)
• Wines
from a specific Appellation or AVA (tasting
location differences)
• Vertical
Tasting (same wines different year)
• Horizontal
Tasting (same year different wines)
• Washington
vs. California or Oregon (state vs. state)
• Washington
vs. European (New World vs. Old World)
• Wines
under $15 or Over $30 (price dependent)
If you are supplying all of the wine then
it is definitely up to you what to serve.
But, if you are having other people bring
wine it is usually helpful to provide a
price range and/or a price cap. You don’t
want people feeling bad because they brought
the cheap bottle, or someone upset because
they brought something expensive while everyone
else brought cheap wine. Anywhere from $20-35
a bottle should cover most situations, but
there are also plenty of great Washington
wines under $20 a bottle as well.
Another thing to keep in mind when choosing
a theme is time of year. Tasting a big heavy
red wine in the sweltering heat of summer
may be a little difficult to stomach for
some. However, crisp whites can be ok in
the winter as long as you have the heater
running. Also, don’t choose a theme
that requires too much knowledge upfront
or a lot of note taking during the tasting.
Your guests will get bored very quickly
if they are required to take a lot of notes,
or really any at all. Keep things light
and casual, and don’t try to make
accurate conclusions as to which wine actually
won (if you are having a competition). Remember,
too much concentration “makes Jack
a dull boy” that wants to go home.
Have fun and don’t take it too seriously.
4. Have the
proper party supplies
Food is always a sure fire hit, especially
when alcohol is involved. It gives people
something to do, plus it helps people from
getting too drunk…too quickly at least.
Put out some light snacks such as cheese,
crackers, nuts, breads, meats, etc. Fruits
and vegetables can be a little trickier
when drinking wine because there are so
many horrible combinations. Try to stick
with food that is not too overpowering or
with sharp flavors. Don’t put all
of the food out in the beginning because
if it’s all gone when people start
getting a little inebriated then they will
be out the door and headed for Taco Bell.
Also, if your party is themed around a certain
varietal or location, then serve up foods
that complement the area or wine.
Other party supplies to keep in mind and
on hand are:
Water: for rinsing and
hydration
A Few Wine Openers: have
a couple on hand to speed things up
Spit Bucket: If it’s
a real party then there probably wont be
any spitting, but if someone doesn’t
like a wine then it’s always a nice
option instead of having them dispense it
in your potted plants.
Pens and Note Paper: Don’t
overdue it on the notes, but if someone
wants to remember something about a certain
wine then it’s always useful. Feel
free to download and use our tasting sheet,
or create your own.
Wine Glasses: A 12oz or
bigger wine glass should do the trick. At
least one for everybody, with a few extra
for accidents or extra guests.
Music: We already mentioned
this, but we feel it’s important enough
to mention again. No good party is without.
5. Be prepared
for breakage and spills
Whether a couple people are designated to
pour wine or each person handles it themselves
there will more than likely be at least
one accident, so be prepared. Besides the
obvious cause of having too much to drink,
spills often occur when more than one person
reaches for the same wine or someone just
isn’t paying attention. Sometimes
a bottle is dropped or knocked across a
table, so white tablecloths and carpets
beware. The more bottles placed on one large
table, the more they will be knocked around.
In the case of a spill have towels on hand
along with club soda and/or ‘Wine
Away’ to prevent stains setting into
clothing and furniture.
At wine parties something always gets broken,
so be prepared to deal with it. Because
if nothing gets broken, or spilled, then
you’re just not having enough fun.
Usually it’s a glass or two that gets
the raw deal. Don’t serve with your
best glasses, or something that would make
you cry to lose. It’s always a good
idea to stock up on inexpensive wineglasses
before hand. But, when choosing glassware
don’t go for the small 6-10 ounce
glasses, get something larger because it
looks better and people generally enjoy
drinking out of a larger wine glass. Good
wine glasses can be purchased at such places
as Crate & Barrel or IKEA for inexpensive
prices. Or, you can always just rent from
a party supply store (not Zonks!).
6. Wine, Wine,
Wine
Having enough wine on hand is crucial for
any successful wine party. You would think
that this would be obvious, but unfortunately
poor planning and/or free riding friends
can cause unpleasant shortages in wine.
Basically, there are 4 - 5 glasses of wine
in every bottle, so we suggest you plan
on 6 bottles of wine for every 4 - 8 people.
Just make sure you have enough to allow
everyone to experiment. Rule of thumb is
to have each person bring at least one bottle
of wine, so there is enough for everyone.
You may want to have a few extra on hand
just incase there are duplicates or you
run out early.
Also, have the wine ready to go at an appropriate
serving temperature. For white wines placing
them in the refrigerator approximately 1-2
hours before the party and removing 20 minutes
before you’re ready to taste should
do the trick. If you don’t have that
kind of time you can also use a bucket of
ice and water for about 20 minutes, but
this can sometimes cause the wine to get
too cold so be careful. Red wine is usually
ok at standard room temperature, but it
sometimes helps to put reds in the fridge
20 minutes before serving. This allows the
wine to slightly cool to a good serving
temperature. For more information on temperature
and other useful serving suggestions feel
free to check our ONLINE
INFO.
Well that should do it. The only thing left
to do is send out the invites (try evite.com).
Have fun and remember wine tasting is like
Fight Club…and just like the first
rule of Fight Club that “there is
no Fight Club”, the first rule to
wine tasting is that there are no rules!
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