And now for something completely different. My husband turned *cough* 40 this year, and to celebrate,e I threw him a party at our house. The question was, what would the theme be? I have been hosting kiddie parties for years now ~ pasta party, cupcake party, sledding party, outdoor park party, etc, etc. None of these themes seemed to fit my 40 year old husband. Then he suggested a theme to me...build a wine cellar. Not literally, of course (no hammers and nails involved), rather, build a wine collection party. Perfect. Now, if we were going to host a wine party, we had to have a wine tasting...right? I took to Pinterest and searched for inspiration. The inspiration was sadly lacking. Thus, today's post. While I am usually posting about kid parties...the world really needs a post about hosting a wine tasting...trust me.
So, where to start? The invitation asked each guest to bring along a bottle of wine for my husband's wine cellar (a keeper) and one bottle for tasting (a sharer). Our guests happily complied. For the wine tasting, I designated a spot, the top of a bookcase, for all the tasting supplies.
Numbered brown paper bags were used to cover and disguise each bottle of wine. A rubber band around the collar of the bottle tied the bag up neatly and easily.
I created a wine scorecard, specially tailored to my husband and our friends. We also supplied pencils so guests could easily complete the cards.
I purchased small plastic shot glasses that the guests could use to taste the wine. If it had been a smaller party, I would have used wine glasses, but with a large group, I never would have had enough glasses.
For those guests who might not have ever "tasted" wine before, I put together a list of tips and tricks to help them out.
After the guests completed their cards, I tallied up the votes, and we discovered which wine people enjoyed the most and the least.
At the end of the night, our guests had tasted 3 different bottles of wine. It was difficult hosting a wine tasting for a group of 40 people. With so much mingling and chatting going on, it was hard to get our guests to stop and complete the wine tasting. Ideally, a wine tasting party would have 20 or fewer guests. That way, everyone can discuss the wine they are tasting. I think we had about half the guests participate. The results weren't too surprising...the most expensive bottle was the favourite.
Have you ever hosted a wine tasting event? Do you have any other tips to share? Please leave your tip in the comments below...I would love to hear what your experiences are.
