If you are at all a wine lover, you’ve been to one or more of the many wine events that are currently on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This disruption will someday be in the history books and, I know, if you’re like my friends, you’ve been developing your knowledge of wine during these long periods at home.
Well, you too can be a wine tasting host and get your friends together at the ultimate wine party … the “Drink Yourself Blind–Name Those Wines” party. To make the party a success, you need to prepare your home to entertain and educate your friends to the dynamics of wine.
If you haven’t yet, I urge you to start a wine collection in a wine cellar or a refrigerated wine cooler. It doesn’t have to be hundreds of bottles, just 50 will get you going, but make them mostly reds and make sure you have a variety of them from the major wine regions of California, Washington, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina (new world wines) and the major wine regions of Europe (old world wines).
From Europe, you will want to have a few from Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and Germany. The defining difference between new and old world wines is that new world emphasizes the fruit of the wine (“fruit forward”), while old world wines emphasize the earth (“terroir”) from which the wine came.
Blended wines are excluded as they tend to be a mix of several red grapes. For a seven-bottle test, I would suggest you include: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Syrah, Sangiovese and Malbec.
Pass around an information sheet (with a pen for each guest) that includes an agenda with times for meet-and-greet, buffet and drinks, going over the rules, a time frame for tasting and discussion among the guests, and a finish time for all guests to fill in their choices (i.e., No. 1 was a Malbec, etc.) before the bags are removed to disclose the wines. Each form will be tallied for correct answers and winners are then announced with wine prizes awarded to the top three guests with the largest number of correct choices.
In a number of my columns, I refer to the five S’s of tasting. If your guests know their wines, they use this system to identify and get the most knowledge out of wine consumption. The five are: Sight, swirl, smell, sip and swallow. (For more on the five S’s, click here.)
As host you should supply appetizers before and during the tasting and make water available for sipping between wine tastes. Make sure the glasses are all the same size and let guests know that a maximum 2-ounce pour will be allowed. Don’t burn candles or allow room fresheners to interfere with the smell of each wine.
Make sure the red wines being tasted are less than room temperature — 65 degrees is perfect to bring out the brightness of the bottled wine.
Save this article and start putting your creativity to work to plan a “Drink Yourself Blind” wine party, but first, wait for the all-clear from the authorities that COVID–19 has passed. Then, you’ll really have something to celebrate.
Wine Bytes
- 7 Mile Kitchen in the Sheraton Hotel in Carlsbad is open and offering grab ‘n’ go service from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Their dine-in service is offered exclusively outdoors in the heated patio. Call 760-827-2514 to order.
- Grab ‘n’ go and dine-in is also available in Carlsbad at Chandler’s Oceanfront Dining. All outdoor patio areas are open for dining. For restaurant hours and an RSVP, call 760-683-5500.
- The Godfather Restaurant in Clairemont has a great offer for July. Dine-in guests can indulge in a four-course dinner for two for only $68 per couple, including a complimentary bottle of Querceto Chianti Classico. RSVP at 858-560-1747.
Reach Frank Mangio at [email protected]