Wine Tasting Parties – Fun And Educational!
A home wine tasting party is a good way to get to know various wines that are available. These types of wine tasting parties can be great events where you can invite friends over, socialize and discuss everyone’s opinion about the various wines you’ve selected. As there are so many different types of wines for you to choose from you will want to make your selections carefully.
Planning is key to any successful party, so think in advance about all the items you’ll need. 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 need enough glasses (plastic will NOT do!), cork screws, drip rings and so on. One often overlooked but very important accessory for a great wine party is a wine cooler. Your kitchen refrigerator and ice buckets might do, but if you want to chill and keep your wine at the perfect serving temperature, you need a proper wine refrigerator. The Vinotemp 32 bottle wine cellar will fit this bill perfectly – it can chill up to 32 bottles to the perfect temperature, and it’s big enough to hold enough wine for all but the biggest home parties, but not too big to move for the occasion.
Next you need to figure out what food to serve; food is an important element since you want to host a wine tasting party, not simply 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!). While the unit is not really designed to be a portable cooler, it is small enough that it could easily be taken outside, but big enough to hold all the bottles you’ll need.
You might also want to have notepads and pens available for your guest, as some of them might want to take down notes on the various wines that they sample. 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!!
Tags: vinotemp 32, wine, wine party, wine tasting
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 5:37 am and is filed under food and wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.