We think a Wine Tasting Party is great fun!

One of the most fun social activities we started doing a few years ago was planning our own wine tasting parties. We love wine tasting at vineyards and restaurants, but these parties give you a different experience.  You can try a few wines, with friends, in the comfort of your home with some small bites. These parties involve a lot of fun and frivolity and you get to learn a lot about wine and about what pairs well with what wine.  This post is about how to plan a wine tasting party.  And, some tips and tricks to ensure they succeed and how to bring your guests together to get the most out of the social event.

Background

When I first started taking my WSET courses (Wine & Spirit Education Trust), one of the things that was very noticeable to me was my poor palate.  I didn’t have a sensitive palate so my wine tastings were challenging.  It didn’t mean I didn’t know that I was tasting all the time.  But I was guessing based on memory of a wine, not on any educated or knowledgable process that I was familiar with.

To help me along the wine tasting journey, when I started WSET Level 2 I asked my husband if he would help me out with my wine tasting.  I would do my blind wine tasting, using my SAT (Systematic Approach to Tasting, Level 2) chart and then he would guide me based on what the wine said on the back label or online. It helped a little but still, practice makes perfect! 

After completing Level 2, I moved on to doing more independent wine tastings where we would be in a restaurant setting or we would be tasting wines at home and I would try and work my way through the tasting to use the correct nomenclature. Again, this helped, I was a bit more successful the more I practised.

I also encouraged myself to start eating more berries and fruit on their own. This was so I could discern flavours and tastes on my palate more readily.  This was a game changer for me. It helped me in discerning flavours in foods and it kick started my palate!

Our First Wine Tasting Party

We started with a total of 4 couples including us.  Each couple contributed 2 bottles – 1 white and 1 red.  So that’s eight wines.  I blind tasted and our guests drank small quantities of each.  Then we selected the ones we enjoyed the most and had those with some appetizers, and it was a lovely event overall.  It was alot of wine, and alot of fun!  

We refined our approach over the next three events.  Each event was with a different group of friends. We are completing our fifth wine tasting party this month!

Planning a Wine Tasting Party

What do you need to think of when you plan a wine tasting party?

Theme

You can try a type of wine (red, white, rose, sparkling, fortified).  It could be a country theme – Italy, Spain, Canada, etc.  It could be a region – Piedmont, Italy; Tuscany, Italy; Douro, Portugal, etc.

Selecting a theme helps guests pick a wine, and it also helps in determining food pairings.

For our next wine tasting party we selected the theme of warm climate wines.  We split the white and red wines between the guests.   

Food Pairings

We like to encourage appetizers from our guests.  Sometimes they pair them with the wine they are bringing.  However, we leave it up to the guests as everyone enjoys something different and we want this to be an event folks look forward to and not stress over!

With appetizers our guests can nibble while they’re tasting the wine and socializing.

Palate Cleaners

Something as simple as plain crackers or bread helps to neutralize or refresh the palate between wines.  

You don’t want something that’s going to linger on the palate. 

Wine Glasses

You want to make sure you have ideally one or two for each guest. For our parties, we start with whites and then go to red. We can allocate one glass each to our guests, unless we are inspired to do 2 each. Clear glasses help them observe the wine colour and clarity more easily.

Other Glasses

Everybody seems to enjoy a little bit of water available.  We have a couple jugs or clear wine bottles with water in them for guests to refill their water as they please during the party. This is a better idea than them using their wine glass.  The water can dilute the wine poured in the glass.

Spittoons

If you or any of your guests will be spitting at all during their tasting this is a good idea!  Ideally, not clear glasses.  We have used plastic beer glasses we have around.  You can also pick up a few from the dollar store if you don’t have any around.

Tasting Sheet

This is something that my husband started doing for our wine tasting parties, and it’s been very helpful for our guests. In our invite, we ask participants to contribute the information about their wine that they’re bringing back to another email address. This includes the name of the wine, the type of wine, even a picture.  He then compiles the tasting sheet based on that information for all the guests.  If you have blind tasters (like me!) I don’t get to see it because I’m doing a blind tasting, and if you want to do a blind tasting as well as a guest, then you wouldn’t see it.

The tasting sheet helps guide guests through their tasting.  It shares what types of aromas and tastes they will find on the palate from the wine they are tasting.  These are just like the ones you get when you wine taste at some winery cellar doors/wine tasting rooms.

Administrative Considerations for your Wine Tasting Party

Temperature: You want to make sure that the wines are served at the proper temperature to enhance their flavour.

Location: Set up a nice ambiance and environment for the wine tasting. We typically like to do it on our deck in the sunshine, but with some shade so that people are comfortable and enjoying the event itself and also making sure that people have a nice, comfortable place to sit and relax, as well as have some good lighting. 

Served or Help yourself?  Decide prior to the wine tasting event if you will be pouring the initial tasters for your guests or leaving them to pour themselves.  We have done both, but tend to prefer to serve first, then encourage guests help themselves to wine after the tasting.

The Flow of the Wine Tasting Party

It largely depends on your guests and what you prefer.  We typically have the party flow as follows:

• Great guests upon arrival
• Take covered wine bottle and place in opaque wine bag
• Place bag and appetizer in the wine tasting area
• Provide guests their wine glasses, water glasses
• Determine who is blind tasting
• Short overview of party theme and logistics, intro to tasting sheet
• Start with first wine
• Share aroma, palate
• Ask grape varietal
• Take bottle out of wine bag – the reveal
• Second wine…
• ….and so on
• Then open up the wine for self serve!

Guests are encouraged to enjoy the appetizers, palate cleansers, water as they go.

It’s not overly rigid.  Socializing and conversations typically move the group in different directions.  But, we can always come back to the wine!

Give it a go!

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