Wine Tasting Party Ideas - A Get Together Over A Few Bottles Of Wine!

Wine tasting party ideas are great for a small group of wine loving friends to get together. It is usually best if you only have a small number of people so you can fully appreciate the wines.

You will usually need a maximum of 4-6 wines and it is a good idea to set a theme for your party which will then reflect on the wines that you have chosen.

Some themes and ideas can include:

Countries - Having wines from a certain country or countries or even regions
Grapes - As above but for similar produced grapes.
Blind Tasting - Put each wine in a bag or cover the label and see which wine guests think is the best.
Novices/Wine Lovers - If you have a mix of wine loving and wine novice friends try and invite an equal number and then you can see what different opinions they have.
Wine and Chocolate Party - Put together two of your favorite things for a great party!
Pricing - Have wines from different price brackets and see if guests can guess how much they were or have cheaper wines and then one expensive one to see if guests can guess which is which.

Just think, if your party is a hit you can celebrate with monthly wine parties, maybe with a different host each month.

INVITATIONS

To start off any wine tasting party ideas you need invitations to invite your guests.

If it is going to be a less formal gathering with your closest friends then a phone call, text or email would suffice. But if you want to add a special touch to your party from the beginning then a home made invitation is ideal.

There are many invitation ideas that you can use. The first would be to fold a piece of card stock in half and cut in the shape of a bottle of wine. It can then be decorated to look like a bottle of wine with the party details inside the invitation.

You can also make invitations from actual wine bottles. Using a small (empty) wine bottle create your own wine label either by hand or on the computer giving the details of the party. This can then be stuck onto the bottle with double sided tape.

You can then put a coloured napkin, a rolled up piece of card giving any further information or a decorative bottle top in the top of the bottle.

Remember, when writing the party details, make sure that you include whether you want your guests to bring anything. If you have a theme to your party and want them to bring specific wines then make sure you state this on the invite.

If you want to make some easy but professional looking invites then the Pink Heaven Party Angel recommends creating extraordinary free digital invitations in minutes at Smilebox.com! You can even add your own photos, video clips and music.

DECORATIONS

You do not really need to have decorations for wine tasting party ideas, although you can use vines, grapes etc to set the scene as a winery.

You will, however, need a few items such as:

Tasting Cards - If you’d like you can make up a tasting card for each bottle of wine that provides details about where the wine was produced and in what year along with a few brief facts. You can then leave room for each guest to write their thoughts about each wine and give it a rating

Pens and Paper - For guests to jot down their own notes. You could even make up wine evaluation sheets where you can list each wine and let the guests score the win on different points such as aroma and flavor
Wine Glasses - A clear wine glass for each guest to drink out of
Dump Bucket - A container in which guests can tip any left over wine in between tastings
Water Pitcher - To swill glasses and also a few glasses for any guests who would like to swill their palates
Bread or Crackers - To cleanse palates between wines
Bag or Decorative Paper - To cover wine bottles for any blind tasting
Tablecloth, Table Mats and Napkins - To avoid spills and stains

PARTY COSTUMES

If you having a formal themed wine tasting party ideas it is nice to ask your guests to dress up for the evening. This can just simply be an outfit that they would wear to a restaurant or to add a extra touch to the party if you are hosting wine tasting party ideas from different countries ask each guest to wear something symbolic from that or each country.

FOOD AND DRINK

Food for wine tasting party ideas should be simple appetizers. You can also serve a French dish to go with a French wine etc.

It is always nice to have a appetizer that goes with each wine and different cheeses are very popular for this.

Here are some ideas:

A cheese or fruit platter - creamy cheeses tend to go better with white wine whilst harder and full flavor cheeses are better with red wines
Bruschettas - Roasted tomato and garlic is quite popular
Nuts and Dried Fruit - Almonds, walnuts etc.
Chocolate - Darker chocolate usually goes best
Olives
Mini Quiches
Cured Meats

A tip to remember is to try and keep it simple as the focus is on the wines not the food so try not to include anything too citric or spicy. Also if you do your research you can make little place cards that show what wine each food goes with.

The drink that you will be serving for wine tasting party ideas is obviously wine, but which wines should you choose?

Unless you have preferences go for an equal number of red and white wines so that guests get to taste the different flavors. Try and keep a similar theme between the wines such as region produced or varietal (the grape it was made from)

When choosing how many bottles you need, think how many guests you have - each bottle of wine can produce tasters for about 8 people.

Another tip is before serving white wine make sure you chill for at least 30 minutes so it can be served at a temperature between 45-50 degrees. Red wines are best served at room temperature. It is also recommended to serve white wines, rose then reds.

ENTERTAINMENT

The main entertainment of wine tasting party ideas is of course wine tasting! This will be the main event and is carried out in stages:

First you need to fill everyone’s glasses. A good rule of thumb is to fill the glass one third full or about 2oz of wine.
Sight - First get everyone to look at the wine and say what they see, note wine clarity and color. The deeper the color then the more full bodied the wine.
Smell - Sniff the aroma of the wine to try and detect fragrances such as fruity, flora, herbal etc.
Taste - Now comes the tasting, roll the wine over your tongue for about 10-15 seconds and try and disguish the taste. Is it fruity, sweet or bitter? Does it have an aftertaste. If you have wines made from the same grapes see how different the wines taste from different regions.
You can make up your own evaluation sheets for guests to fill in a core on each area and then give a prize to who ever brought the highest scoring wine or you could just get each guest to write a few notes on each and then decide on a winner.
Other things that you could try are competitions on who can guess the price, region etc. of a wine. Or if you have similar priced wines then one expensive wine and see who can pick out the most expensive wine. You would need to hide the labels for this!
Wine trivia games are also popular for wine tasting party ideas. Before hand write a few trivia questions about each wine, from the bottle label or researched on the Internet, then get guests to guess the answers. Have some prizes such as bottle stoppers to give out to the winners.

FAVORS

Wine tasting party ideas for favours can be given if you want to remind guests of your party. Here is a list of wine themed favours:

Bottle stoppers
Cork screws
Wine glasses
Wine glass charms
Wine tasting books
A list of your recommended wines/foods
Personalized chocolate - saying Thank You
Personalized taste card - you can create your own taste cards with what you think about each of the guests described as how you would a wine!

Remember, if you can't find what you are looking for here then why not ask the Pink Heaven Party Angel, who is there to answer all your party questions. Or why not help others with their party planning problems by answering their questions!

Then once you've thrown your party let everyone know about it at YOUR parties, readers can then rate your party and give their comments. Your party could then help others searching for the perfect party idea, whilst giving your ideas the fame they deserve!

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