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How to Arrange a Successful Private Wine Tasting:
A Checklist for Wine Tasting Parties and Home Receptions

Many corporate events today include a guided wine tasting, since such an event offers education, entertainment and personal development.

You can create your own private wine tasting event at your home. Here is a checklist for your reference.

Call 310 467 5582 or email us if you need help. Our nationwide sommelier network can help you practically anywhere in the United States.

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A. How to Select the Wines

1. Plan for 8-10 different wines for the event, let guests taste 2 wines at a time, side by side, so that they can appreciate the flavor contrast.

2. Have 2 wine glasses for each guest. Your sommelier can bring in glasses if you don't have enough.

3. For up to 12 guests, 1 bottle per wine is enough, resulting in 8-10 bottles total. For more than 12 guests, you want to have 2 (or more) bottles of each wine.

4. One bottle provides 13 pours of 2oz each. That's a good tasting portion.

5. Don't just taste American wines at your wine tasting party. Show the diversity of the world without incurring more cost.

6. Perhaps have a sparkling wine (Cava, Prosecco or Champagne) as the welcome drink, but you will need flute-shaped glasses for that.

7. Have 2-3 white wines and 6-7 red wines for the tasting. Most people prefer red, but a few whites make a well-rounded event.

8. Wine Selection - Just draw from the important classics, and keep it diverse:

White:
> Riesling from Germany
> Viognier from Rhone Valley, France
> Chardonnay from Chablis, France
> Sauvignon Blanc from Loire Valley, France
> Torrontes from Argentina
> Gewuerztraminer from Alsace, France
> Chenin Blanc from South Africa
> Albarino from Spain

Red:
> Pinot Noir from Burgundy or New Zealand
> Syrah from Rhone Valley or Australia
> Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux or Napa Valley
> Cabernet Franc from Loire Valley, France
> Gamay from Beaujolais, France
> Chianti or Brunello from Tuscany, Italy
> Nebbiolo from Barolo or Barbaresco, Italy
> Tempranillo from Rioja in Spain
> Grenache from Southern Rhone, France
> Carmenere from Chile
> Malbec from Argentina
> Zinfandel from Paso Robles, California

9. Let your sommelier pick individual wines. He likely has tasted many bottles and knows which specific producers and vintages are currently good, at the lowest possible expense.

10. Don't buy wines at the grocery store or supermarket. They are overpriced and usually too U.S. focussed. Call us if you want to know the best wine store in your region that is known for competitive pricing. Wine can be shipped to you, but always expect $30 extra cost.

11. Consider a sweeter wine for the finish, like Sauternes dessert wine or Port. Have a designated food equivalent for that, for example chocolate cake.

B. Tasting Format

1. You could set a theme for the tasting and announce it in the event invitation for higher turn-out:
- Old World vs. New World
- Key Grapes from Around the World
- Wines rated 95 and above
- Wines of Italy
- Wine & Food Pairing (allocate a heavy appetizer to each wine)
- Vintage wines that match the anniversaary or birthday theme
- A Night in Tuscany
- Exploring the Southern Hemisphere

2. Turns out that all your friends hate wine? Offer whiskey tasting party instead, sampling Scotch, Bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and others. Bring in an whiskey expert to lead the event.

3. Consider a blind-tasting format, simply put the bottles in numbered paperbags. Assess if the group is better suited for an informal event or perhaps for a fun wine tasting seminar.

4. Maybe bring in a wine expert or keynote speaker who leads the wine presentation, blind-tasting or a wine blending contest to make the event part social, part educational and memorable.

5. Decide if you want the wines to be a walk-around approach with stations, or a more focussed sit-down "wine dinner" event with wine presentation and choreograped presentation course-by-course.

6. If you are hesitant to use your house, consider hosting at a restaurant. You simply buy the dinner from them and they likely give you a private room for additional cost.

7. If you ask guests to bring a bottle, give them guidelines for price and type to avoid bad surprises. From our experience, the wine line-up that results from guests bringing a bottle of their choice is less than stellar.

C. Food Considerations

1. Wines and the overall theme can be alligned with the food you are preparing. It's the best approach to learn about wine.

2. Systematic cheese, charcuterie, chocolate and honey tastings can be nice company to the wine theme. They can be paired with the wines. If you have an outdoor space, offer a guided cigar tasting.

D. Budgeting

1. Plan on $20 per guest for wine on the low end, $90 on the higher end. Anything in between will work.

2. The best recommendation for an impressive wine line up is $50 per person.

E. Set-Up & Logistics

1. Have the white wines on ice before and throughout the whole wine tasting event.

2. Have a few bowls set up as dump buckets.

3. Special pens are avaiblable to temporarily indicate guest name and number on each glass.

4. Avoid glass use close to the edge of the pool by not offering tables or bottles in that area.

5. Monitor that guests don't overdrink and drive. Allocated tasting pours of 2 oz at a time can help. Provide plenty of water, and wind down the wine tasting component an hour+ before the gathering ends.

The Wine Elite Sommeliers can help you with all components of a successful private wine event.

We offer turn-key programs with a sommelier-guided event presentation at $950 and up, in most American metropolitan regions.

Just write us and we can give you a quote, and send you a trained sommelier to prepare and lead this special wine tasting event.