Instead of our regularly-scheduled Cheap Wine of the Week Wednesday, today I'm going to share my tips on hosting a wine tasting. (We didn't drink any good cheap wines this week, just a great expensive one.)
So the hardest part about a wine tasting is picking the wine you want to serve. It can be rather daunting. Do you just go to the store and blindly grab 6 bottles and hope they work? Do you get only wines that start with the letter "W"? While those may actually be valid, fun tastings, there are a few rules to stick with.
First, the basic options for a tasting are vertical, horizontal, or themed. Vertical tastings mean that you select one specific wine, say Orfila Vineyards' 2006 Ambassador's Reserve Merlot, and then you go into your cellar and pull out the 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001 versions and set them all up against each-other to see how the wine differs throughout the years. If you have a great love for a vineyard or a wine, this is a cool option to lovingly sip through its history.
But, let's face it, most of us don't have the luxury of having a cellar full of older vintages of wines that we can stack up against one another. So the next idea of a tasting is a horizontal tasting. This is where you select a certain varietal (and, if you want to be picky, a certain region as well), say Miner Family's 2006 Petite Sirah, and then you go pick out five other 2006 Napa Valley Petites to set up alongside it. This way you get the same grape, from the same year, from the same region, but you can taste the differences between the makers.
Now, for a crowd that doesn't necessarily like the same type of wine, another idea is a themed tasting. This can encompass just about anything. All Italian wines, wines with animals on the label, wines under $10, wines Cassia has featured as Cheap Wines of the Week. You get the idea. With this type of tasting, it's going to probably be a little more hit or miss, but it can also be really fun because you get to explore some random wines and be casual and fun about it.
The logistics of the wine tasting after you've picked out your wines is then completely up to you. Especially if I'm doing a themed or random tasting, I like to go for the blind tasting idea. So you grab a bunch of paper bags, wrap the open bottles all up (if you're with wine snob types, make sure you take off the foil or any other identifying features above the top of the bag), number the bottles, and give everyone tasting cards for them to make notes and guess which one is which.
Image taken from winetastingguy.com.
The last step is to get some great cheese, or bread, or something to snack on so the wine doesn't go to everyone's heads too quickly and so they can clear their palates. And then pour out about an ounce or so of each wine to everyone (really, you don't need a lot, just enough to swish and swirl), provide a dump bucket, and get to tasting!
This Saturday we're hosting a wine tasting at our place (8 o'clock if you're in the Chicago area, just let me know if you want to come!), and I'll be doing a more informal educational style. Pick out four common white varietals, four common red varietals, one rose, bag 'em, and let people see if they can pick out which one's which. (The rose might be a freebie). I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!
If you guys have some good wine tasting tips of your own, let me know! I'd love to hear more fun ideas! Happy wine tasting!
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