Grappling with the Grape: Wine Tasting Party

Inspired by wine-tasting whilst on holiday in Southern France, sipping delicious local wines in the sunshine amongst beautiful scenery, I was keen to host my own wine-tasting party. What a perfect way to get everyone in the festive party mood!


Vineyard in Southern France

In homage to my recent travels, I decided on a French theme and to include both red and white wines.  Other possible themes could be a specific colour, grape variety or region. How about trying sparkling wine or port for a festive tasting? After confirming the guest list, I asked each person to bring a bottle – instructing them which colour to bring and from which region of France. This ensured we had a variety for the tasting. I also asked my guests to cover the label before arriving, so that I couldn’t cheat when setting up the bottles!

Next, I carefully wrapped up all the bottles, covering everything including the neck so that no-one could recognise their own. Tissue paper, newspaper or foil all work fine. Make sure you have everything to hand so you can wrap the wines quickly and get back to hosting.

Round 1: The Whites

First up were the white wines! These were served before the reds, since they are lighter and don’t leave a tannin aftertaste.

Each guest had a score card to fill in and was given the challenge of identifying the grape, region and price, before giving the wine marks out of 10. To help guess the grape, I provided a list of the varieties with a couple of words on how they taste (fruity, honey, oak etc.). To my surprise, this guide worked really well and helped lots of people to guess correctly! I had also added 2 ‘wild cards’ from different countries and asked people to try and spot them.

Bottles at the ready!

Using my (very) basic knowledge, I showed my guests how to identify the wine by its appearance, aroma and taste. Cue lots of very silly fish faces as we all had a go at sucking air into our mouths with the wine! Of course, we all needed extra measures to check the taste.

Serving canapés alongside the wine provided the perfect nibble in between tasters. Finger food is fun and sociable, as well as helping to line the stomach! Making your own canapés will really impress your guests and are much more appetising than stodgy, bland shop-bought ones. To complement the white wines, I served smoked salmon and cream cheese crostini, cranberry and stuffing filo bites for a festive touch, and mozzarella, basil and tomato topped crackers (see below for crostini recipe). All of them went down a treat, especially the salmon. Luckily I’d made plenty!

Really bring your canapés to life by designing interesting flavours and spending extra time on presentation. Using an assortment of different bases and a variety of colourful toppings increases the visual appeal, making them too tempting to resist!

Round 2: The Reds

Next up were the red wines, which we moved on to with gusto. The canapés I served to complement them included fig and blue cheese topped crackers, grape and duck pate topped apple slices, and chorizo, red pepper and hummus crostini.

After multiple slurps, spills and the odd coughing fit mid fish face, we rather hazily reached the end of the tasting and unveiled each wine in turn. In the battle of Reds Vs. Whites, the 'wild card' Argentinian Malbec was the overall winner, with the sweet Riesling the favourite amongst the whites. Interestingly, one of the most expensive wines was one of the least favourites!

Who had the most refined palate? Well, I can safely say everyone got less accurate and more ambitious as the evening progressed! I guessed all of the whites correctly (perhaps a sign I’ve practiced too often?!), but got all of the reds wrong (perhaps I haven’t practiced enough?!).

Serving up some sweet treats including mince pies, chocolate truffles and dark chocolate mints topped off the evening perfectly. Judging by our guests staying until the early hours of the morning and the number of empty bottles found the next day, it was certainly a successful evening!

So, choose your theme and host your own wine tasting party for an evening with a difference. Or why not try different ciders or ales? Perhaps don’t take up one guest’s suggestion of a tequila tasting party; that’s one hangover I wouldn’t be able to handle…

Crostini

Make your own crunchy crostini for your canapés:

1)      Cut a white baguette into thin slices.

2)      Brush both sides with a thin layer of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

3)      Spread out on a baking tray and bake at 180⁰C for approx. 5 minutes each side, until golden brown.

4)      Leave to cool before assembling toppings.

Top Tips for a successful wine-tasting party:

Tasting the reds!

- Make sure you’ve got enough wine glasses!

- Ask guests to bring their white wine pre-chilled.

- Chill glasses in the freezer before serving the whites for a special touch.

- Provide a list of the grape varieties and instructions on how they taste if you are beginners. Otherwise, it’s impossible to guess!

- Pop a carafe of water on the table to keep hydrated between tasters.

- Match your canapés to your wine colour.

- Aim for a total of 12 canapés per guest (plus a handful more for spare!)