For a holiday party that’s a little different, try a wine tasting party. There are several ways to host a wine tasting.
Here are some different types of tasting parties:
A regional tasting is done on wines selected from a specific region or country.
A vertical tasting is the classic type of tasting that does require a little more effort. This is done on the same type of wine made by the same producer across a range of years. The hardest part of this type is gathering all the wines.
A horizontal tasting is done on the same varietal of wine from the same vintage but from several different producers.
A specific producer tasting is done on any varietal, any vintage, from a single producer.
A varietal-based tasting is done on wines of the same varietal from different regions; the same varietal from different vintages; or the same varietal from different producers. This is the easiest type of tasting to host. Great for casual and relaxed parties.
To host a tasting, choose the type of wine to taste (pinot grigio, chardonnay, etc), then choose the vintage (year it was produced), the region/state, OR the producer/vineyard – and ask each guest to bring that specific wine. For example, you could ask everyone to bring any merlot from any year; or any chardonnay from Connecticut, etc.
To get started, number each bottle of wine and gather everyone around a poster for recording reactions to the following characteristics:
APPEARANCE: Cloudy or clear? Dark or light color
AROMA: Oak smell -buttery, cedary, vanilla, spicy
FRUITY: if so, what kind?
EARTHY
MOUTHFEEL: Soft – light? watery?
HEAVY: fills the mouth
ACID: none, some, noticeable
TANNIC: dry mouth feel, fuzzy
To make it more interesting each wine could be disguised in a brown bag and rated on a scale of 1-10 for each category above. The guest who brought the wine with the highest score wins a bottle of wine.
Compliments of
Gouveia Vineyards
1339 Whirlwind Hill Rd, Wallingford CT 06492
Phone: (203) 265-5526
http://www.gouveiavineyards.com/
