How To Host the Perfect Wine Tasting At Home
You don’t always have to go out to enjoy the experience of wine tasting.
You can easily do this out of the comfort of your own home, and maybe even do it better!
Having wine tastings at home is not only tons of fun, but it also may save you money because you’re not paying for expensive winery fees!
This blog post will give you four very SIMPLE steps to host the PERFECT wine tasting at home and leave your guests with a great impression.
…Let’s get into it!
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Wine Tasting at Home Must-Haves
Before we get into how to host the perfect wine tasting at home, let’s go over a few amazing products that are sure to make your wine tasting at home, extra perfect!
Burlap Wine Bags with Tags for Blind Wine Tasting
Kick your wine tasting up a notch with these burlap wine bags for blind wine tasting! Only the truest wine lovers will step up to the challenge!
Keep track of your wines with a wine-tasting placement tracker. Take notes of the wines body, smell, taste and color with ease!
Experience enhanced flavours and a smoother finish with a wine-aerating spout – your guests will taste and smell the difference!
Gold Foil Cocktail Beverage Napkin
Celebrate the wine-tasting night with friends with these aesthetic gold foil napkins.
A humorous sign to showcase during your wine tasting at home!
If you need some help identifying ay notes or traits within the wine, this aroma chart will be your best friend!
Set of 12 Stemless Wine Glasses
Make sure you have enough wine glasses for the whole group with these stemless wine glasses.
How To Host the Perfect Wine Tasting At Home
Plan Your Wine Selection
To make your wine tasting a memorable one, be sure to include a variety of wines from light whites to bold reds.
Add in sparkling and sweet dessert wines as well to make the tasting extra unique!
Start off with light, crisp whites and then move on to heavier, bold-bodied reds.
This will help leave your palate primed for sampling darker wines since white wine does not have the same level of tannins as red.
Here are some ideas of what you can get:
- Sparkling wines like Champagne or Cava
- Light white wines like Sauvignon Blanc or Albariño
- Bold white wines like Chardonnay or oaked white wines
- Rosé wines
- Light red wines like Pinot Noir or Gamay
- Bold and high alcohol red wines like Cabernet or Shiraz
- Sweet wines like Sweet Riesling, Port or Dessert Wine
If you’re planning on having more than a few guests over, make sure you’re prepared with enough wine glasses!
These stemless glasses come in a set of 12, making you prepared to handle larger groups at any time.
Incorporate The 5 S’s
Look into the glass and SEE the depth. Is the wine clear, brilliant, cloudy, or dull? A wine’s color is better judged by putting it against a white background.
When you SWIRL a glass of wine, you release hundreds of unique aroma compounds, which attach themselves to the oxygen in the air. Swirling helps in the next two steps of sniffing and sipping.
SMELLing your wine, or “nosing” it as some wine lovers say, is an important part of the tasting process. Wine tasters will stick their noses deep into a glass and take a big inhale to pick up all the aromatic characteristics of the wine.
Take a slightly larger SIP than usual and hold the wine in your mouth for 3-5 seconds letting it coat the surface. It is here that the complex taste experience and characteristics of wine actually happen. Look for sweetness, fruitiness, saltiness, acidity, bitterness, and alcohol.
SAVOUR. How long does the wine linger on your tongue? In wine tasting, this is called the Finish. Some wines can linger for as long as a minute!
Pair With The Right Food
It’s always a good idea to have food available during a wine tasting so your guests can not only enjoy some snacks but also avoid becoming too intoxicated.
Some foods will complement the specific wine you’re tasting, and others will help cleanse your palate for the next tasting.
Having a variety of food and snacks available also gives your guests different options in case there are any dietary restrictions.
To keep it simple, here are some popular snacks for wine tastings:
- Dried fruits
- Nuts
- Breadsticks or Baguette
- Cured Meats
- Cheese and crackers
- Paté and olives
- Grapes
- Chocolate
But wait… we need to talk more about cheese.
If you’re thinking of pairing cheeses with your wine, here are just a few suggestions to consider:
- Aged Cheddar: The sharp and nutty flavors of aged cheddar go well with many red wines, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah.
- Gouda: Gouda, whether young or aged, has a rich and buttery taste that pairs nicely with medium-bodied red wines like Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Malbec.
- Blue Cheese: Blue cheeses like Roquefort, Gorgonzola, or Stilton have bold and intense flavors that can stand up to full-bodied red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux blends.
- Brie: The creamy and slightly earthy flavors of Brie go well with lighter red wines such as Beaujolais or Burgundy.
- Manchego: This Spanish cheese made from sheep’s milk has a nutty and slightly salty taste that complements red wines like Tempranillo or Rioja.
- Goat Cheese: Fresh or aged goat cheese, with its tangy and acidic flavors, pairs well with lighter-bodied red wines like Pinot Noir or Gamay.
Try this rounded bamboo charcuterie and cheese board tray to display all your favorite snacks!
Pick a Theme
Picking a theme is optional, but it can be a lot of fun!
Try sticking to only Spanish wines (and tapas, of course), or maybe you want to stick to French, Italian, or Australian.
Picking wines all within the same country or region will help give you a solid imprint of what that area has to offer.
You may even develop a specific liking for wines in certain wine-growing regions of the world!
Bottom Line: How To Host the Perfect Wine Tasting At Home
Hosting a wine tasting at home can be kept super casual, or made extra fancy.
Wine tastings not only help us to appreciate the complexities of different grape varieties but bring people together to enjoy sipping it!
If you want to take a DEEP dive into the world of wine, consider Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, now onto its 35th edition with over 3 million copies sold.
I read Zraly’s book in a university wine course and still keep the textbook to this day with NO intention of ever getting rid of it!