Have A Fabulous But Simple Wine Tasting At Home

Wine Tasting Plans

Have A Fabulous But Simple Wine Tasting At Home and look like a pro. First, you will need to plan it. Usually, themes work best. Knowing who your guests are matters. If they are casual wine drinkers, then a more simple theme works well. Pick all whites or all reds. If you want a little more fine tuning, pick a country as well. For more experienced wine drinkers, pick a specific varietal or a region anywhere in the world. Lastly, you can assign each guest a specific varietal. That is best if you plan to pair a different food for each wine. Otherwise, just prepare food to go with your theme. For example, sliced grilled filet mignon with Cabernet Sauvignon is nice. And, you can look online for pairings for each varietal.

Wine Tasting Needs

First, you need a wine opener. I recommend the Wine Ziz on Amazon for only $12.99. It is quick, effective and comes with a foil cutter. Also, keep the bottle still when you open it. Second, I recommend wine decanters for the reds, especially young reds (within 5 years). Decant as soon as the guests arrive. Place each decanter and empty bottle next to the food pairing. Label the decanters if there are many. If you do not have enough, borrow some. Next, buy a box of a dozen red wine glasses. They will work for whites too. Clean with plain hot water. Never use soap on wine glasses, because residue gets stuck inside no matter how well you rinse. Then, dry immediately to prevent spots. Also, buy some wine glass name tags also on Amazon (50 for less than $10). Finally, buy some wine stoppers.

Food Pairings For A Wine Tasting

Keep in mind that the more you drink, the less you can smell and taste the wine. Therefore, pour 2 ounce tastes which will serve 12 people per bottle. That will give you 12 pours. And, that is a good number of people as well to invite. Each person brings a bottle is a good rule of thumb. Use six bottles for the tasting. Save the others for afterwards. The host keeps what is leftover. As I mentioned earlier, it is the most fun to have a 6 different wines and six different foods to match each wine. Drink whites before reds. Whites do not need decanting. Drink lighter wines before heavier ones. If you are doing a Chianti tasting, then make foods that Tuscans eat with it. Do your research. For Chianti, Italian appetizers like hard cheese (e.g.-Pecorino), oil cured olives, green olives with pits, roasted peppers and Italian meats (e.g.-Sopressata). Set up stations for each wine and food in your kitchen or elsewhere. Tell your guests that the goal is to take a small sip of wine to taste about 1oz. Then, taste the matching food and mix another sip with the food. Get your guests opinions. Or, you can make printouts with space for each wine and food. Each person can write their thoughts.

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