A successful party always calls for planning, so you’ll need to think about what items you’ll need to get in advance. First, of course, know how many guests you’ll be having, so you have enough food and wine and supplies on hand. Next, one of the most critical decisions you have to make is of course which wines you want to serve, and how many bottles of each type you’ll need to be sure there’s enough to go around. You’ll also have to have enough glasses (NO plastic!), cork screws, drip rings and so on. One often overlooked but very important accessory for a great wine party is a wine cooler. Your regular refrigerator or ice buckets are one way to cool your wine – but if you want to chill a significant number of bottles, and keep them at the proper serving temperature, and do it in style, well for that, you’re going to need a proper wine cooler. The Vinotemp 32 bottle wine cellar is perfect for this purpose, as it can chill as many as 32 bottles to the temperature you choose in a fairly short time, and it’s neither too big nor too small for the job.

Next, you should decide exactly what foods you will be serving – you don’t want your wine tasting party disintegrating into a drinking party! As this home wine tasting party is meant to be a way to learn about the various wines that can be used for various meals and other occasions you should make sure that your guests are not overwhelmed with too many wines.

And since you primarily want a home wine tasting party to expand the knowledge of the wines and it’s always a good idea if everyone’s relaxed, you might want to let everyone mingle as they drink the wine. It is useful to record what might otherwise be fleeting impressions of each bottle, and to share opinions and discuss them after everyone’s done tasting. Keeping all the wines to be tasted in an easily accessible location is the best way to ensure all your guests have the opportunity to try all the varieties they are interested in. The Vinotemp 32 will also handle this task with ease, keeping every bottle organized, available, accessible and, of course, just the right temperature.

A home wine tasting party is perhaps the best place for you and your friends to learn more about great wines. Many people feel that half a dozen different wines are enough for a home wine tasting party, but more is also OK, if it’s in your budget and you have enough guests. The wines you offer should be a mix of reds and whites, and blush or rosé if you choose, and also bottles of varying brands and price points. In addition you can choose to introduce a sweet wine or two for pairing with the dessert.

To make your home wine tasting party a success you will need to choose the wines and the atmosphere carefully. For instance if you have a garden and the day is sunny lay out a table and load some delicious French cheese and other finger foods that your guests can enjoy. Besides these finger foods, you should have a buffet style meal so that your guests can eat as they mingle and taste the wines. If you choose to have the party outside, set up your food tables as you would for any outdoor reception and let the Vinotemp 32 bottle wine cooler take care of keeping the wine cool (perhaps even more important outside than in the house!). The unit is not really intended to be a portable, but it is small enough to be easily transported outside, and it’s still big enough to hold all the bottles your wine tasting is likely to need.

You should also remember to have some forms on hand for those of your guests who might want to take down any notes on the wines that they taste. This is also a good practice to learn for the more formal wine tasting events that you or your guests might attend later.

After a perfect home wine tasting party, the only thing left to do is enjoy a relaxing evening at home – and start to plan the next one!!

The first theme we will examine  is called the Horizontal Wine Tasting. In this kind of theme, you will focus only  on one wine variety from a single year. However, each type of wine will come from multiple vineyards and different producers. For example, you can focus on a 2000 Chenin Blanc from five or seven different wine producers or wineries.

Here you can decide whether you would like to taste wines from the same region or you want to mix it up somewhat by tasting the same type of wine that comes from different wineries in different regions, such as from California, Australia or Italy.

The second theme is called Vertical Wine Tasting. Here, the wine tastings are conducted by tasting just one variety of wine. For example, you will only concentrate on tasting the Chenin Blanc from the same producer. However, the wines will be in different vintages or years. This is the vertical part. For example, you can taste the Chenin Blanc from one winery from years 2000, 2002, and 2004.

One of the objectives of this theme is to demonstrate how subtle a wine can change from year to year – an extremely exciting experience for your guests.

Priceless Wine Tasting is another great wine-tasting party theme. People normally assume that wines that are more expensive taste better than cheaper ones. Although this may be true, you can try testing their palate by withholding the price of the variety of wine you have available for tasting. By just tasting, your guests should determine which wine is worth, for example, more than 100 dollars and which one is worth less than 20 dollars.

Price Point Wine Tasting is another great wine tasting party theme that you may want to try. Here, the wines featured will be in a similar price. The goal here is to keep the wines comparable in a baseline price which is quite flexible for you to organize when it comes to buying the wine. The objective here is to demonstrate if the taste change with different price points.

Another theme is called the Big Eight Wine Tasting. Here, you will get your guests to work their way through eight different kinds of wines and determine which one they prefer. This will also give your guests, particular the ones that are not very into wines a new appreciation for the different kinds of wine.

The big eight wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, and Pinot Noir for red wines, and Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio for white wines.

Lastly, the Blind Wine Tasting theme can also work for your party. This is sort of mixing up the prior five themes. Just take any of the themes mentioned before, remove the labels from the bottles or put the bottles in wine bags and you have a blind wine tasting party that will surely be a lot of fun for your guests. The fact that your guests will not have any ideas on what wine they taste,  will definitely make it interesting to know which kind of wine they prefer without looking at the label or at the price of the wine.

Remember, whichever theme you choose you need to plan your party around at least one theme. Sure you can mix and match to suit your taste and circumstances, but having a theme is a great way to reduce stress and guarantee a great party.

Enjoy.

A winetasting party is not really expensive and it is also not hard to put on. It’s one way to test your wine skills and see how your friends measure up. Now, that can generate a lot of fun. Getting together will be much happier and more exciting if the party’s theme is wine tasting
and not just a bland party.

Formal wine tasting usually doesn’t allow the testers to swallow wine. Just as the name ‘wine tasting’ suggests, you will only smell, taste, and enjoy the wine. At a party with a wine tasting theme, your friends and even you, can taste, smell and yes swallow the different wines provided. Just be very careful since overindulging can lead to sobriety issues later.

Once you’ve tasted several wines and you swallowed them, you may not be able to assess the wine’s full flavor. It’s up to the guests whether they will swallow the wine or not.

There are important preparations before you start the party. You have to ensure that there are lots of clean wine glasses at the party. With clean glasses, you can easily see residue that affects the wine’s taste. Use a white tablecloth so that the guests can view the wine closely. Why white? Well, the white colored tablecloth will allow your guests to see any sediment and assess the wine’s body. Make sure that there is also candlelight at the party.

If you don’t know your friends’ wine preferences, you can ask them to bring one bottle of their favorite wine. Also, don’t forget to provide clean water, bread, and some crackers. Always remember, don’t serve cold water because it can shock the taste buds of your guests.

If you’re serving red wine, decant them before the party. The wine tastes better once it’s able to breathe; if you’re serving white/blush wine, chill it slightly first before the guests arrive. Don’t forget to keep your pencil and paper handy once the taste test begins so that your friends can rank the wines.

As the host of the party, you should supervise the wine tasting. Try to start with simpler and lighter wines. After that, you can already taste heavier and drier wines. If you start with the heavier and drier wines, you will not be able to taste the white wines.

If there are not enough wine glasses, make sure that you swirl clean water in it and then dry it using clean cloth; that way, the wine will not be diluted in water.

Do you know the ways to test the wine’s clarity, color, aroma, etc? Wine tasters follow some kind of procedure in tasting the wines and you should know about them because that’s the only way to assess the wine’s quality.

When tasting the wines, make sure that you drink water or eat some bread or crackers before tasting another wine. This is important so that the taste of the previous wine will be eliminated. Allow your guests enough time to guess the brands and varietals of the wines. Everyone will surely have fun at the wine tasting casual party.

Formal wine tasting parties are usually not very enjoyable especially if you’re having friends around; organize a casual party now and see how much fun you will have together with your closest friends.