Roxana Caragea

Original source (the page formatting is done for wordpress, therefore the spacing and page arrangement is different): http://www.coprinted.com/blog/how-to-organize-the-perfect-wine-tasting/ How To Organize The Perfect Wine Tasting We’re in the middle of fall and even though a lot of vineyards have probably ended the picking season, that does not mean that the wine itself is not to be enjoyed. With the cold weather becoming the norm it’s safe to say that cozy gatherings and homey parties can sometimes hold more appeal than clubs or parties where the music is blaring. In that vein, today, we’re going to talk about how to best prepare a wine tasting party. Read through this post and hopefully you’ll find some useful info on how to make a wine tasting party successful. 1. First Thing’s First Imagine having a house party where the DJ is really not professional, does not have a certain theme for the songs and doesn’t really have any idea what the crowd needs. Lame party, right? That’s about how it can get with a wine tasting if you don’t give a bit of structure. There are a lot of wines out there and it’s easy to get confused. To avoid all of that confusion, pick a theme. You can choose to go for a type of wine: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay and so on, but buy wines from different wineries and see the differences between the producers. You can choose to taste vertically, that’s when you choose one certain producer and taste the wines produced in different years. You can go for a horizontal tasting, where you choose a year and try to find one wine per producer produced in that certain year. you have a lot of options, don’t stress over which is better. Pick one and run with it. 2. Tools Just like a DJ needs a turntable you need tools for the wine tasting. The most obvious ones being glasses. Yes there are a variety of glasses out there for every wine imaginable, in total, about 20 different types. Do you need all of them? No, there is no need to dish out good money for glasses that you are not going to use on a daily or weekly basis. If you’re really serious about becoming a wine connoisseur you can get two types of glasses. Go for a set of six red wine glasses (the bowl of the glass is larger than a regular glass) and for a set of six flute glasses (perfect for white wines). Apart from that, you may want to have some cards that give a bit of background on the different wines that the guests can look through, kind of like a cheat-sheet. 3. The Food Wine needs a compliment and that comes in the shape of food. A wine tasting party without food can become something else, fairly quickly so make sure that you keep your guests focused on tasting the wine and offer them companion dishes. Nothing complicated, make sure you have an assortment of cheeses, nuts (almonds work best), bread (that has been warmed up for about 5 minutes, at 350 F before serving) and crackers. Remember that the focus is on the wine, not on the food, check pairings before buying anything. Also, remember to have water on hand so that your guests stay hydrated. In a nutshell, that is what you need to know when organizing a wine tasting. There are a multitude of guides and info-graphics to help you with the smaller details about a wine-tasting party such as a budget and how much to serve. Good luck! ♥R ​ oxie Sources: R ​ ed and White​, ​Flute Glasses​, ​Red Wine Glasses​, F ​ ood Spread