The theme of wine for a party may come off as something only the most pretentious of us would ever think of. But the truth is, a wine party can be one of the most fun parties you'll ever throw. As long as you know how to throw the right wine party, that is.
It can be a really amusing and enlightening experience to visit a vineyard and give a variety of wines a good taste. But the demeanor is so formal and well, boring. In fact, maybe you don't really want to spit out the wine you just tasted.
If you host a wine party yourself, you can recreate this exact same experience, but from the comfort of your own home and in the comfort of your good friends. Pick a category of wines – like “red wine” or “dessert wine,” etc – and ask all your guests to bring their favorite bottle, even if it happens to be purchased from the local gas station. Remember, this shouldn't be a gathering for those wine snobs you know, but instead, for your friends, and some of them may have no particular affection or knowledge of wine. In fact, the more inexperienced wine tasters you have on hand, the more interesting the experience can be, as it can really be a night of discovery.
There are so many different kinds of wines out there and so many different price tags you have to compare. A wine party is helpful to you and all your guests, as you can find out together what your individual favorites are and when you can save money and when it's worth it to shell out a few extra dollars.
What kind of wine and how much?
This question is not all that easy to answer! The kind of wine you provide and ask guests to bring all depends on the mood you want to set. If you want to encourage a more casual, laid-back evening, you can ask guests to bring sets of relatively inexpensive wines that come in those convenient boxes! If it's a more posh affair, consider having your guests gather wines of a similar price but from different countries – for example, the focus of your party may be to compare Australian, French, and American wines. A standard approach to a wine party is to just let your guests bring one or two bottles of their favorite wine, no questions asked. Or you can think of a brand or a date of wine, too.
Don't expect your guests to taste more than 5 or 7 wines or to drink from more than 3 wine glasses. But do expect them to bring wine themselves! This is where you save some money and some surprise for yourself. You're in charge of the food, however.
Food
Fortunately, there are so many different food items that go with wine. All kinds of cheese, oysters, saltine crackers, seafood, chocolates, etc, are all good picks. Serve them as appetizers and don't put too much effort into them – the focus really should be on the wines, unless of course you want your wine party to follow a dinner party (which is pretty typically). In this case, sweet dessert wines and champagnes might be the beverage of choice. Main entrées you might want to think about preparing include lamb or salmon.
Play
If your guests bring wine bottles, or even if they don't, there is a really fun wine tasting game you can play. Conceal the bottles with perhaps a paper bag, and have all your guests compare their tastes and pick their personal favorites. See which ones win out! Did the cheaper wines end up tastier than the expensive wines? Did everybody prefer the wines from America over those from France?
To spit or not to spit?
If you have some hardcore wine tasters attending your party, you might have to indeed encourage your guests to spit out the wine they taste. Thus, you might need to have a bucket or bowl of some sort on hand so that your guests don't get too inebriated. However, for the most part, wine parties are a great way to taste wines without spitting and perhaps do a little unwinding in the process; it shouldn't be a stiff, formal affair.
More tips
In addition to having your guests bring wines, you can also rent wine glasses and thus not worry about your precious glassware that your grandmother gave you being accidentally broken.
When you set up the wine tasting, unless your intent is to hide their labels, put those bottles on display – they should look as though they're in a lineup and your guests are to pick out which of them committed the crime!
So, what are you waiting for? Start making those invitations!