Pour, Swirl, Sip, Enjoy

Have you ever thought of having a wine tasting party?  If you like wine and enjoy pairing wines with food, you may want to consider have a party.  I decided to invite some friends over and turn my home into a tasting room.  The first item on the list was to get my invitations out.  I wanted to be unique, so I bought some Penless Wine Tags, and uploaded a video invitation onto each of the QR codes.  This was super easy and I have already gotten some responses of how cool and personal my invitations were.

Here are some tips to having a simple, social, and deliciously fun party:

• Have snacks and appetizer pairings to serve. Some examples may be:
  • Fig & Olive Tapenade
  • Puff Pastry Cheese Straws
  • Bruschetta
  • Baked Brie with Figs & Walnuts
  • Smoky Three Cheese Fondue
  • Baked Ham & Cheese Roll-Ups 

In addition to some appetizers, I am pairing each wine with a certain cheese.  For example, the Cabernet Sauvignon, is pairing with a cheddar.  The Chardonnay is pairing with a creamy cheese, such as Brie.  The Sauvignon Blanc will be sampled with Goat Cheese.

• Make sure to have your wines chilled at the proper temperature. Try serving whites at 40-50 degrees and reds at 55-65 degrees.  (Reds can be put in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes prior to serving)
• Decide what wines to serve when. As a rule of thumb, you should line up your wines in this order: bubbles, light whites, rich whites, rosés, light reds, bold reds, and then dessert wines.
• Download some music to play at your party. Try some of these tunes:
  • “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” Marvin Gaye
  • “Peel Me a Grape,” Diana Krall
  • “Red Red Wine,” UB40
  • “Elderberry Wine.” Elton John

So next time you want to taste a few different bottles of wine, host a wine tasting party.  It is an easy and engaging means of experiencing many different types of wine.

Finally, as a gift to give all my guests, I am sending them home with what else than a bottle of wine.  The bottle of wine, like the invitations, will be personalized though.  I am attaching a Penless Wine Sticker to each bottle.  On the sticker, I am going to upload a picture of the guest at my party.  This will be something fun for them to remember.

I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food. – W.C. Fields