Four Easy Steps to Hosting a Great Wine Tasting Party

More and more people are drinking wine these days and why not? It’s readily acknowledged by the medical community that drinking red wine in moderation has a myriad of health benefits including lowering your risk of contracting heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer and cataracts.

So why not host a wine tasting bridal shower? Besides being a lot of fun it's an excellent way to learn about wine and maybe even find a few wines you want to feature at your wedding. Here are some guidelines that will help you organise a wine tasting that’s sure to be a hit.

Step 1 - 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.

Step 2 - Choosing the wine
Choosing the wine to taste at your party is the best part of the planning stage. 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 bridal shower 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.

Step 3 – A 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 unflavoured crackers (saltines) or bread to cleanse the palette between wines.

Step 4 – Tasting and rating the wine
Remember to limit your pours to two ounces (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.

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. 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 aluminium 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 bridal showeris 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.

About the Author
Marcia Parks is a successful free-lance author, wine-reviewer and web publisher. Her current project involves travelling the United States to visit and review wineries. If you found this article useful you may wish to read more of her detailed wine reviews.
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