Be the talk of your social circle by hosting a cheap wine tasting party that can turn out to be more high-quality than anyone expects. You won’t have to spend a lot of money to host your shindig – guests choose and bring their own bottles of wine to share!
Many inexpensive wines (we’re talking $5 or less) have won gold medals in blind judgings at national and international competitions, making many people re-think the value of $40 and $50 bottles of wines. Hosting a cheap wine-tasting party is fun way to get friends together for good conversation, delicious appetizers and surprisingly good libations.
Decide Who’s Coming
Not everyone’s into wine, so that will affect your invite list. You can still invite non-drinkers, but they’ll have to bring a bottle of wine and do some research regarding just the right appetizer to pair with it.
Plan Your Food
Depending on your budget, you can handle your food one of two ways. You can ask your guests to bring an appetizer (preferably home made) or cheese they feel goes well with their wine. If you want to supply the food, ask your guests to tell you (well in advance) what wine they’re bringing.
This will not only prevent duplicate bottles of wine showing up at your party, but you’ll also be able to do a bit of research and plan your food based on the different wines people will be drinking during the party.
Rent or Borrow Some Glasses
You won’t want to be washing glasses all night as you clean up after each tasting, so rent some wine glasses, or borrow at least three sets so you don’t have to pause the party while you wash glasses. If you have your wine list, ask a wine store manager if you need special glasses for any of the wines.
If you want to play up the “cheap” theme, by plastic wine glasses from the dollar store.
Start the Speeches
Let each guest tell you about his or her wine before you start pouring. Have them tell everyone what type of wine it is, where the grapes are grown, which winery makes the wine, what other brands the vintner makes, if the wine’s won any competitions, where people can buy it, and finally, how much it costs.
Do Blind Wine Tastings
You can add a twist to your party by putting blank labels over each bottle and telling everyone you’ve added one expensive or “high-end” bottle to the evening’s tasting. At the end of the evening, vote on the wines and then reveal the winners (and losers).