<div id="attachment_3971" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 411px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo credit: Fast Forward Event Productions</p></div>
Drinking good wine with good friends is one of life's greatest pleasures. If you love to entertain, but hesitate at the work and expense of hosting a dinner party, try a wine-tasting party for your next get-together. With just a few glasses, some bottles of wine, and perhaps a snack or two, you've got the makings of a memorable night. Here are our favorite tips for hosting a successful wine-tasting party:
Start by choosing a theme. Try tasting all wines from Tuscany, or comparing Cabernet Sauvignons from different parts of the world.
When shopping for the wines you'll taste, look for a wine merchant that displays staff tasting notes, or hosts tastings itself--both good indications that the employees are knowledgeable wine enthusiasts who can make good recommendations.
Limit your tasting to five or six wines. More will overwhelm the palate.
Keep it simple by providing one Bordeaux glass for each guest to use for the whole tasting.
Cover the table with white tablecloth--it's the best background against which to judge the wine color.
Traditionally, a tasting pour is two ounces. A standard-size bottle will provide a taste for eight to 10 guests.
Make sure to provide a bucket into which guests can to dump unwanted wine.
A good rule of thumb: put reds in the refrigerator 15 to 30 minutes before guests arrive. Take whites out of the refrigerator a few minutes before you pour them to take the chill off.
To help your guests cleanse their palate between tastings, set out bread and water. In case they want a little something more to nibble on, serve a few snacks, too. A few ideas: a plate of olives, a charcuterie board, a few cheeses, a selection of crostini.
Work from dry to sweet white wines, and from light to heavy reds. It's also best to start with younger wines and progress to more mature ones.
Make a tasting card (or print out this one from Epicurious.com) that lists the type of wine, the year, the vineyard that made it, and a brief description of the wine's attributes. Or keep the cards blank and put each wine in a bag (or cover it with foil) to create a blind wine tasting.
Serve a popular wine from the tasting to guests who want to linger afterwards.
Do you have any tips for hosting a great wine-tasting that we forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments!
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