If you’re into wine, you probably also have friends who are into wine. And if you and your friends are into wine, you’re probably all into food, too! And if you’ve had food and you’ve had wine, you also know that wine + food + friends = major fun times! Here are four ideas for hosting really fun wine tastings with the best of your wine and foodie friends.
Vertical tasting
Think of a vertical tasting as a trip on a time line. Choose a winery, and then select three to five bottles of one particular wine produced over several vintage years. I like making games out of things, so some of you could start at oldest and move to newest, and vice versa. You could also hide labels and let your guests guess which bottle was which year.
Horizontal tasting
Think of a horizontal tasting as a road trip across various wineries, all in the same year. Select a few types of wine you’re interested in, for example, Chardonnay or Merlot. Now, select a vintage year and get several bottles of these wine types produced by different wineries. You could choose wineries in a single appellation, which would be a great apples-to-apples comparison. Or you could compare regions. For example, you could do a tasting of 2013 Sauvignon Blancs from France, CA and New Zealand.
Wine and food pairing
Of course you’ll want to have food with any personal tasting event, but this event emphasizes the food-pairing game. The game is to have everyone bring a favorite wine with a favorite appetizer that they think best pairs with their wine. All wine bottles are in paper bags, and all appetizers are set out anonymously. The game is to see how many people match the recommended wine and appetizers.
WineShop At Home tasting
My WineShop At Home tastings are a great excuse to bring together 8 to 12 friends for a few hours of “edutainment”. The tasting lasts a couple of hours. During that time, we talk about and taste 6 excellent artisan wines, do a little wine 101, and have a lot of fun. At the end of the tasting, people have the opportunity to order the wines they like. It’s a whole new way to try great wines before you buy. If you’re interested, please call me at 650-714-7009.
There are so many fun ways to have informal wine tasting events with your friends. If you’ve had a personal wine tasting event you’d like to share with me, please let me know!
