WINE TASTING PARTIES
Wine tasting parties are a perfect means to bring friends and families together for an ultimate experience of experimenting with wines. It is fun to mix different types of wines or sampling wine with various food items like cheese or caviar to bring out an absolutely new flavor.
One needs a few wine bottles, right appetizers and foods for a great and successful wine tasting party. There are varieties of wine tasting options available, like Horizontal Wine Tasting, Vertical Wine Tasting, Old World Wine Tasting, and New World Wine Tasting and beyond. A plain assessment of the tastes of various red wine and white wines are the most loved form of wine tasting.
To get started, one needs to purchase few bottle of quality wines. About eight bottles of wine should be sufficient for six to eight people. For the right wine, the advice of the sales person at the wine shop can be taken into consideration or one can purchase one’s favorite brands. It is advised to include Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot among the red wine variety and among the white wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Riesling are good options.
The host needs to arrange for lots of glasses or goblets. The glasses should be equal to the number of guests. The idea is to allow each guest to sample each wine at least once without taking the pain of rinsing the glasses.
The perfect food for wine tasting parties is finger foods and snacks or munchies. We don’t want our guests to drink wine on an empty stomach neither do we want them to be too full to relish the wines properly. Cheese and chocolates are the conventional accompaniments. There are a wide choice of cheese and chocolates available which go well with the wine. A wide palate of dips and sauces enhances the tastes of the snacks served.
If the get together is a formal one, beautifully designed tasting cards could be distributed amongst the guests. The tasting card would mention the kind of wine served, name of the vineyard, manufacturing details of the wine etc. The tasting card should have proper section for the guests to record the taste, essence, look of a particular wine.
But if the tone of the party is a casual one, a simple pen and paper would be enough to jot down the remarks of the guests. The guest can be asked to rate the wines according to the best and the worst tasting as per their individual choice.
Classically, wine tasting is started by using white wines and slowly progress to red wines. It is best to start with new wines and gradually proceed towards older wines. It is advised to assess each wine according to its distinctive color, smell and flavor. Generally, for each tasting, two ounces per wine glasses is poured for each person. Offering plain bread and water between each serving is helpful as it allows the guests to rinse their palates and make themselves ready for the experience of the next wine.
By Sanhita Ghosh
Author can be contacted at : sannusappy@gmail.com
