- Inviting your guests-
The first thing you need to consider when organizing a
wine-tasting party is how many people to invite. Generally speaking, 8 to
12 is considered the optimum number of guests. This size group is large
enough to promote spontaneous interaction and small enough to be easily
manageable.
Whether you telephone, email, or sent written
invitations is a personal choice. I happen to prefer sending email
invitations. American Greetings has a great card site that includes “eInvites”.
It’s a wonderful service where you can send invitations and your guests
can simply click a button to RSVP. You can even schedule follow-up
reminders. The American greeting site has a $20.00 yearly membership fee,
but for all the ecards and services, I think it’s worth it.
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Choosing the wine-
In my opinion, choosing the wine to taste at your party
is the best part of the planning stage. But then, I happen to get
mesmerized every time I walk into a large wine store. There’s so much to
choose from.
There are many different ways you can handle wine
selection. One option is to consider a themed party. For example:
“California Chardonnays”, “German Rieslings”, “Wines Under $10.00”, or
“Italian Reds”. The possibilities here are endless, so don’t be afraid to
be creative. Another option might be to choose wines from a particular
winery or even to select different vintages (years) of the exact same
wine. Selecting different vintages of the same wine is called a vertical
tasting and this may be more costly to do since older vintages tend to
carry a higher price tag.
When buying the wine for your party, keep in mind that
for tasting purposes, each pour should be about two ounces. This means
that for eight people or less, one 750 ml bottle should be enough.
- The question of food-
No party would be complete without food. However,
depending on your goal for the event, you may want to wait until after
tasting the wine to serve food because food affects the taste of wine and
visa-versa. If your goal is to have an informal gathering of friends and
experience new wines with good food, by all means serve food paired with
the various wines. In fact, an easy and fun way to have a wine tasting
party is to ask your guests to bring the various courses (appetizers,
soup, salad, dessert) along with a paired wine while you provide the main
course and wine.
If your primary goal is tasting and judging new wine,
it is more appropriate to wait until after the tasting to serve the food.
Instead, during the tasting, provide only unflavored crackers (saltines)
or bread to cleanse the palette between wines.
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Tasting and rating the wine-
Remember to limit your pours to two ounces (visually,
two ounces is about two inches in a normal size wine glass). Place
pitchers of water out for your guests to rinse their glasses or cleanse
the palate between tastings. Also, have buckets available for those who
choose to spit out the wine instead of swallowing it. Spitting is not
necessarily an indication of not liking the wine. Many wine tasters spit
so they will not be affected by alcohol consumption. Especially if the
tasting is to be followed by socializing and drinking wine.
One suggestion for tasting and rating the wine is to
simply hand out paper and pens to each of the guests as they arrive so
they are able to make notes on each wine tasted. To make this process more
structured and organized, you can download and print wine tasting forms
from the internet. Clicking on the following link will take you to
Wine-Reviewer where you may download a wine tasting review form.
Wine reviews You may reduce the chance of
ratings being influenced by personal preference or prejudice by having a
“blind tasting”. To do this, completely wrap each of the bottles with
aluminum foil and label it with a number. The wine will then be identified
and judged by the number on the bottle.
To make the evening a bit more interesting and
educational, research the wine, winery and wine-making region. Your guests
will probably find the information interesting and will appreciate your
effort.
Using these guidelines, having a wine-tasting party is as
easy as 1-2-3-4. Have fun, but please remember to drink responsibly and do
not let others drink and drive. If possible, have someone be a designated
driver to insure that everyone gets home safely.
Marcia Parks is a successful free-lance author,wine-reviewer
and web publisher. Her current project involves traveling the United States
to visit and review wineries. You may read more of her detailed
wine reviews at
Article Source :
www.womenbrands.com
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Wine
Tasting Parties: 4 Easy Steps to Hosting a Great Wine Tasting Party
