Nothing can compete with good company, great wine, and a fireplace – especially in Winter! The difficult part is combining these elements with a memorable party. Here are a few ideas to help you host a party worth remembering.
1. Wine Party: Blind Tasting
Wine blind tasting is a great party activity, and so easy to go about. Buy a range of wines, wrap the bottles in brown paper/bags and serve it in black glasses (you can buy these at your local homeware store). The main idea is to let your guests guess the grape variety and for bonus points they need to determine the value of the wine, ranked from most to least expensive. Be ready for lots of fun and entertaining feedback. Le Pommier Wines have a variety of wines that will work perfectly for blind tastings.
2. Wine Tasting Party
Wine tastings are always an experience, ideal to share with friends. This is also the perfect excuse to show-off your wine knowledge, but don’t get too carried away 🙂 . Pair your wines with interesting snacks. Some suggestions: popcorn (plain or buttered), crackers, choice of cheeses, olives, cured meats and dark chocolate. Allow your guests to really taste the wines by smelling, looking at the colour, clarity and depth and commenting on the taste.
Jody Robbins has some excellent tips for throwing a wine party, you can read them on her blog: www.jodyrobbins.com
3. Wine Aroma Party
Take the next step and compare wine varieties with aromas. This can include scents from cherries to seashells – believe it or not! Help your guests make sense of wine lingo by matching scents with wine aromas.
There are some excellent examples on www.foodandwine.com
4. Bridal Shower Wine Party
Planning a winter wedding? Why not make your bridal shower memorable, skip all the boring traditional games and do a wine party with a tasting. Include the Big Eight wines, this refers to the world’s eight most popular and influential wine varieties on the market.
The white wines include: Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.
The red wines that make up the Big Eight are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Shiraz.
5. Wine, Wine and more Wine!
Our last wine party idea is the easiest. Invite your friends, get a big container with wine (we believe the container in this photo will work just fine) and drink to your heart’s content… 🙂 Problem solved!