Wine tasting theme suggestions?!
Answers: We usually are somehwat competitive and instruct everyone to bring a bottle meeting a certain theme, like "the best bottle we probably should have opened last year," "the bottle of the night," "best red from an otherwise terrible vintage" or "best red under $40 when new"
Around the world..have everyone bring a bottle form a diiferent country/even state. We have done this before and its always a hit!
A good value for under $40.00.
9 Mile Shiraz...it has a big black 9 on the label.
Best label
Wine most indicative of label
Wine most contrary to label
Worst after-taste
Best wine to store for 5 years
There are Varietal themes, where everyone brings the same type of varietal, like a Pinot Noir theme or Zinfandel theme. Then you can do region, like chilean, Oregon, New Zealand, South AMerica orr more specific like Willamette Valley Oregon, or Napa vs Sonoma.
We usually have the. host of the party provide the food, and everyone who is a guest brings a bottle. Sometimes, i announce teh menu and tell people to bring a wine that is the best pairing with the food. Be creative. Have Vintage tastings allfrom same year. Vertical tastings, different vintages of same wine (this can be expensive or difficult)
Most of all have fun with it.
There's always the regional flight with the food pairings. Like Banya Cauda (that garlic dip) paired with a wine from Piedmont. Or you could do the opposite and pair foods to wines that never would have happened before these modern times.