Face it—the standard cocktail party has been done to death. Why not host a party with a decidedly different slant? One that combines your love of entertaining with your love of wine? Sounds like the makings of a truly memorable night and it sounds like something you need to get on your social calendar ASAP!

Follow our step-by-step tips and you’ll have a wine tasting event your friends will be talking about for months!

The Guests:
To get the most out of your event, this wine tasting will need to be somewhat intimate. We suggest inviting no more than eight couples (plus you and your plus one, of course). If your friends are mostly single, try not to have a total of more ten people since you don’t want to have more than 10 bottles at the tasting or it will be too many bottles to effectively taste.

The Invites:
This is one party that really does need an invitation, so whether you do an electronic or traditional invite make sure you send invitations to your guests. It’s the most effective way to explain the rules (which we will get to shortly) and also to stress the importance of being punctual. The format of this wine tasting really won’t work unless everyone arrives on time, so leave your perpetually tardy friends for another event.

The Wines:
When hosting this type of a wine tasting at home, it’s best to decide between a red wine or a white wine tasting rather than a mix of both. Red wine tastings are arguably more interesting to do; however, doing a white wine tasting in the warmer months could be a fun way to try some new white wine varietals. 

The Details:
Ask each couple (or guest if your friends are single) to bring one bottle of their favorite red (or white) wine—no price requirement, no regional or country requirement, the only request is that it is either red or white depending on your instructions (wines will be poured for the tasting later and you don’t want to be mixing reds and whites in the same glass).

The Food:
Since you won’t know exactly which wines your guests will bring, stick with tried and true wine-pairing basics: cheese, crackers, dried meats, crusty bread and olives. If you want to provide more extensive food choices, keep them simple finger foods that don’t require you spending time in the kitchen while your party is in full swing.

The Glasses:
If you don’t have enough wine glasses to pull this off and you’re thinking about resorting to plastic cups—STOP! For a small investment you can get real wine glasses at your local dollar store that you’ll have on hand for parties for years to come. 

The Start:
When guests arrive, take their bottle of wine before any other guest sees it. Place the bottle into a paper lunch bag, so only the neck of the bottle is visible, secure the top with a rubber band or tape and label the outside of the bag with a letter. 

Have an area set up for mingling and invite your guests to enjoy an assortment of light white wines (or maybe sparkling wine) you’ve provided for them. Flume Blanc, Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc are three light whites that come to mind or pop open a bottle of Prosecco or Champagne. Need help? Ask your local Wine Country Wine Pro for advice. 

The Rules:
Once all of your guests have arrived and you’ve enjoyed some time with friends–and with white wine—it’s time to start the tasting!

Give a two minute explanation of the process:
• Keep pours small—about an ounce of wine. That’s it. It’s a tasting. Oh, and all wine pours are self serve.
• Everyone gets a ballot with the lettered wine choices and a ranking for each from 1 to 5. Be sure to have enough pens/pencils on hand for everyone. 
• As guests taste—small tastes of each, please—they will rate the wine on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the best). Have a pour bucket on the table for guests to discreetly dispose of wines they don’t like.
• When all wines have been tasted (generally no more than an hour), gather the tally sheets and do a simple averaging of the wine’s rankings and award the winner. 

The Winner:
The wine having the highest average rating wins! Award a prize that is wine friendly. Might we suggest one of our exclusive Gift Box Pros wine gift boxes or you can buy a really special bottle of wine to award as the prize, it’s up to you.

Congratulations! You’ve just hosted your very first wine tasting. Now enjoy the rest of the night with your good friends and a whole new assortment of wines you may have not tried before. Cheers!