Wine party?!
Answers: My wife and I would like to have a wine tasteing party. I have never been to one and don't know the first thing about putting on a nice party. I will have to invite one friend that has been to a few and a few people he knows that have hosted parties. How do I go about having a nice party? Do I supply all the wine? How should the invitations read since edict is big deal to the misses?
You could combine wine-tasting with a dinner party, but even if you're not, rustle up some snacks to go with the wine...French bread and cheese would work well. If you want your guests to really notice what different wines taste like, they'll need to eat a bite and take a sip of water in between wines to "clear the palate."
Make sure you have plenty of clean glasses and plates available. It's ok to have folks rinse out their glasses in between "pours" since no one has an infinite amount of glassware.
As for the wine itself, you can either buy a few bottles yourself, or make it a "potluck," saying on the invitation that each person or couple is asked to bring a bottle. [The latter method will result in having a LOT of wine on hand, so watch out!] You may wish to pick a theme...such as a country or state that all the wines originated from, or a variety (like "chardonnay" or "syrah"). If you are at a loss for selecting wines, there are many wine websites that can help you (www.winespectator.com always has a list up of recommended bottles under $15, for example).
And as for invitations...if etiquette details are important to the misses...make her do them! :)
Invite people through evite.com for those who has an email address....cheaper and it will have the wine theme. It would be best for you to supply the wine because you are the one hosting a wine tasting party. It is not a BYOB party. If you don't really know what wines to get, I suggest that you have people email you for reccomendations/favorites for whites and reds because the day of your party, you will cover/number them in a bag. People always judge on the label so I would prefer covering them if thats what you would like to do.
Good day,
Wine tasting party, sound fun. I agree w/ Amanda about the potluck , but you will need palate cleanser. Soda crackers of asst flavors, I would also have grapes (several verity's ) cube cheese mild to sharp
depending on the amount of wine each drinks you may want to consider deli style sandwiches for after to soak up Little of the booze..
happy tasting
coffee beans make the best palat cleanser. Also, do a little research on classic parings- then try to have bite sized foods to go with each wine. If you google "classic wine pairings" you will get a ton of info.
Taste,cleanse, eat classic pairing, taste again! Presto- you will impress all your friends!
What type of wine party you have is completely up to you.
My husband and I had a wine party. We had a great time and so did our guests. We decided to ask everyone to bring two bottles of a wine that they like to the party. (We had 25 people attend the party. Almost all couples.) This way everyone could taste wine that other people enjoy. I made a ton of bite size food for the party. I served all the food buffet style. I made: mini-meatballs, almond stuffed dates wraped in bacon, flatbread with aspargus & pancetta, grilled steak with horseradish cream on crostini, and Italian chicken salad in lettuce cups. I also assembled and put out assorted olives, a cheese platter, a meat plattter, a veggies with dip platter and nuts. For dessert I made 3 kinds of cookies, cupcakes and a fruit salad. There was plenty of food and everyone ate well.
We set up a small table for the wine. On the table, we put two ice buckets and wine openers. I bought real glass wine glasses from Kohl's that were very cheap. They were all purpose wine glasses that came in a set of 18 in a storage box. I don't know if kohls carries them anymore but you can always check a party store or amazon. I also made wine charms to put on the glasses so everyone would know which was their glass. (You can also buy wine charms.) I put out some pencils and paper so that people could write down the bottle of wine that they liked. I also bought (which were awesome and we use them every time we entertain now) Wine Glass Holder Canape Trays http://www.theezycatalog.com/eshop/10exp... This way people could hold their wine glass and their plate and eat at the same time.
I also made sure I had plently of water for people as well as coffee if they wanted it.