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Hosting a wine tasting is a fun way to spend time with family and friends and to learn more about different wines and varietals.
- Suggest
that people bring their favorite wine. This
will help ensure a variety of wines and
varietals, and will also give you some insight
into what types of wines your guests prefer,
should you ever choose to purchase a bottle
for them in the future.
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When your guests arrive, be sure to chill
any white wines and let reds adjust to room
temperature. There are no rules as to the
temperature at which wines should be tasted-
it’s more a matter of preference. However,
it is easiest to get the full flavors and
aromas from white wines when they are chilled
to about 55 degrees. If the wine is much
colder than this, the temperature and the
chilling affect on your mouth may interfere
with how you taste the wine.
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Be sure to have plenty of clean wineglasses
available. Clear wineglasses are best, versus
frosted, colored, or patterned. This will
allow your guests to see the wine clearly,
so they can compare color and clarity of
the different types. If you don’t have
enough glasses, small clear, disposable
plastic glasses will also work. It is not
necessary to test each wine in a different
glass. Glasses can easily be rinsed with
water; avoid using soaps or detergents when
rinsing between tasting, as the soap residue
can interfere with the taste.
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If you choose to taste the wines blindly,
simply cover the neck and front and back
labels, and number each bottle. You may
be surprised about which wine ends up being
your favorite! You can also use a tasting
mat to make it easier to number and
organize the wines.
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To prevent wine tastes from overpowering
one another, whites should be tasted before
reds, and lighter wines should be tasted
before full-bodied wines. Sweet wines, such
as dessert wines and white zinfandels, should
be tasted last.
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Offer bland crackers or light bread to help
cleanse the palate throughout the process.
Save the hors d’oeuvres until after
the tasting, as flavorful foods will prevent
accurate impressions of the wine and its
aromas.
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Keep in mind that scents, such as perfumes,
hairspray and smoke, can affect how others
smell and taste the wine, as smell plays
such an important role in how we taste.
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If you are going to taste numerous bottles
of wine, you may want to offer your guests
a place to “spit” the wine out
after tasting- just depending on how “official”
you want your tasting to be. This is how
wine tasting judges taste.
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