Throwing a Wine-Tasting Party at Home? Become a Party Master!

Experiences are at the core of what brings us happiness and fulfillment. They form lasting memories and teach us about the world. Take wine, for example. It’s not about the wine itself, it’s about the experience of tasting it. Crafting the right atmosphere, music, friends and food for a great wine-tasting party at home is about creating beautiful and immersive experiences with the most important people in your life. This is particularly true for Australians who are lucky enough to have one of the world’s great wine regions at their doorstep. A tasting party can be a way to enjoy a top wine from that vineyard down the road or something totally new from a far-off climate. But the joys of hosting the perfect wine party can come at the expense of the stress in hosting it. That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to hosting a wine-tasting party covering everything from various wine types, food paring and how to choose the best wine glasses. Let’s start with the basics.

Basic Wine Tasting Types

One of the best parts of hosting a wine tasting is choosing a theme. Your party theme can be anything, from one with a focus on a single type of wine like pinot noir, to a region. You can even get more specific and sample indigenous grapes varieties of the Caucasus or small wineries of Australia’s own Barossa Valley. The key here is to get creative. Tasting wine is a chance to experience a place with your palate, so take this as an opportunity to go somewhere you’ve never been and share the experience with friends. How you go about this is another question. A wine tasting can be blind (meaning you don’t know which wine you’re trying) or you can focus more on the background of each wine before tasting. There’s also the question of how many guests you’ll want to invite. Three or four is probably a bit too small, while 12 or 14 is likely a bit too big. You don’t want to blow your budget buying enough for everyone, but you also want to have enough guests to encourage lively discussion of the wines you’re trying. Also, make sure everyone is on time: a wine-tasting party is not one you want to be fashionably late to.

Preparing to Host a Wine-Tasting Party

There are some essential thing you’ll need to prepare ahead of time for your wine tasting. The first is, obviously, the wine. A good rule of thumb is that give varieties is enough for a single event. It’s diverse enough to spark interesting contrasts, but not so many that you’ve forgotten about the first by the time you get to the final glass. Five is a nice number for a small event at home. You can feel free to mix reds and whites, but generally try to begin with lighter wines and move to heavier and darker ones later. For six guests, two bottles of each wine should be plenty for an evening.

Choosing Your Glassware

Then, of course, you’ll want a set of quality wine glasses. One per guest is okay as you’re not going to be tasting multiple wines at the same time. Also, if you rinse out your glasses with water, be sure to completely dry them in between tastings. It’s also worth investing in a decanter. Like the glasses, the specific size and shape of this glassware help the wine to oxidize and release its volatile aromatic compounds. The resulting complex smells and flavours are what make a wine tasting truly memorable. Like the glasses, you can get away with using one if you’re only going to enjoy a single bottle at a time and can clean it between bottles. However, as you’ve probably guessed, having a few extras can really make things easier. For more insights about quality glassmaking, explore the Riedel YouTube channel.

Finding the Perfect Food for a Wine Tasting

Food is often the part of a wine testing that poses the greatest number of questions. However, there’s really no reason to worry – a good pairing is relatively straightforward. For a wine tasting, you’ll want to stick to lighter fare like hors d'oeuvres. A classic example is cheese. Frankly, few things taste better with wine. If you’re curious how to find the right cheese, here’s a handy wine pairing guide. Other ideas include fish, fruit, small dishes with lots of fresh herbs, or simple desserts. If your party theme is connected with a region, try making some dishes from that region. This creates an even more immersive experience and can make for more interesting pairings.

Wine Tasting Tips

Once you’ve found the perfect wine, glassware, and food, you’re almost ready to host. But there are still those last details to get just right. First, consider whether you’ll want your guests to score the wines they try. This can help spark more interesting discussions about the difference between each wine and help your guests remember their subtle details. You can also try wine-tasting games. Adding this element can be fun if your guests are already seasoned wine tasters and know the structure of a simple tasting inside out. Challenges can be to guess the region a wine is from, or come up with the most interesting description of a particular vintage. This is one area where you can let your imagination run wild.

Imagining Your Perfect Wine Tasting

There’s nearly no end to the ways you can enjoy good wine and good friends. So think about great experiences and how you can start having more of them. With quality wine from around the world available in shops around Australia, in addition to an array of amazing local options, there’s no reason not to explore. Exploring doesn’t have to stop there, though. The world of beer is also becoming more and more complex. The best brews today can match a great wine in their richness and complexity. Take a look at our ultimate beer glass guide for inspiration.