How to Hold a Holiday Wine Tasting
A wine tasting party is a great, casual holiday party for tons of interactive fun. Ask your guests to bring a favorite bottle from your local region. Try mailing a handwritten note 6 weeks ahead of time if you're planning on hosting a holiday party 'there is a lot of competition for your guest's time around November and December, get your event in their calendar before it fills up!
Essential Wine Tasting Party Supplies:
A Wine Aerator Wine needs to breathe, and you'll want to aerate each bottle as you open it. Minerals, oils and aromatics are released as you pour the wine through these little circulating gadgets. The oxygen calms and mellows the flavors immediately. Without an aerator, some darker wines take up to 4 hours to properly breathe - you won't want to make your guests wait hours for their wines to be ready to serve.
A lot of glasses! You may want to hit the dollar store or your local salvation army - you'll want about 5 glasses per guest - don't worry if they don't all match, you're having a casual night, and a table full of shining mismatched glasses is a charming sight.
A Large White Tablecloth Set up your tasting area on your largest table, with a bright clean white cloth underneath.
Small Notebooks and Pens You'll want one notebook per guest, they can write down their impressions and ideas in the notebook and take it home as special keepsake.
Cardboard Place Cards and Markers Label each bottle on the table by placing a large neat card in front of it, that way, your guests can make notes without picking up every bottle individually. This will save a lot of confusion, (and potentially spilled wine!)
Hors d'oeuvres and Snacks The usual wine-tasting fare is French inspired, rich and flavorful - cheeses, meats, olives and other finger foods should be passed around liberally. All that drinking is bound to make your guests hungry.
Prizes! You'll want to purchase a few small gifts for the guests that bring the highest-ranking wines. Wine aerators, vacuum pumps and stylish wine carriers are wonderful for this purpose.
Dessert, and a few more bottles of wine! Once the tasting is over, pop open a few more bottles and serve up a feast of seasonal sweets. Now that the hard part is over, it's time to relax and enjoy your guests for the rest of the night.
Finally, one site for you to get all the information you need about wine aerators and how one complete breathing system can completely change the way you enjoy a glass of wine.
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