Here are 6 wine tasting party ideas if you don’t know where to start
Horizontal Wine Tasting
You will only focus on one wine variety from a single year. However, each wine will come from multiple vineyards and different producers. For example, you can focus on a 2000 Chenin Blanc from five or seven different wine producers or wineries. You could consider whether you like to taste wines from the same region or you want to mix it up by tasting the same type of wine that comes from different wineries, such as from California, Australia or Italy.
Vertical Wine Tasting
The wine tastings are conducted by tasting just one variety of wine. For example, you will only concentrate on tasting the Chenin Blanc from the same producer. However, the wines will be in different vintages or years. For example, you can taste the Chenin Blanc from one winery from years 2000, 2002, and 2004. This will show the tasters, which are your guests, on how dramatic or subtle a wine can change from year to year.
Priceless Wine Tasting
People often assume that wines that are more expensive taste better than cheaper ones. Although this may be true, you can try testing their palate by withholding the price of the variety of wine you have available for tasting. By just tasting, your guests should determine which wine is worth 120 dollars and which one is worth 10 dollars.
Price Point Wine Tasting
The wines featured will be in a similar price range. The goal here is to keep the wines comparable in a baseline price which is quite flexible for you to organize when it comes to buying the wine.
Big Eight Wine Tasting
Your guests work their way through eight different kinds of wines and determine which one they prefer. This will also give your guests, particular the ones that are not very “in” to wines a new appreciation for the different kinds of wine.
The big eight wines could be Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, and Pinot Noir for red wines, and Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio for white wines.
Blind Wine Tasting
Just take any of the themes mentioned before, remove the labels from the bottles or put the bottles in wine bags and you have a blind wine tasting party that will surely be a lot of fun for your guests.
Be aware that this can dent a few egos of self acclaimed wine experts but good fun otherwise.
An interesting bonus Wine Tasting Party Idea is simply to subscribe to a wine club and taste the selection they send every month. This will expose you and your guests to a never ending selection of wines which may never be considered otherwise.