Friday 24 October 2008

6 Theme Ideas That Will Work for Your Wine Tasting Party

If you plan on hosting a wine tasting party but you don’t have any idea on where to start, then you have to remember that there are quite a lot of ways on how you can start the party. There are 6 wine tasting party themes that you could try which is guaranteed to give success to a wine tasting party.

Wine tasting parties are a lot of fun and it is relatively easy for people to plan and host. If you are starting to plan on hosting a wine tasting party, then you need to keep in mind that you should first choose a theme for your party.

So, here are six theme ideas that you can use for your wine tasting party.

The first is called the Horizontal Wine Tasting. In this kind of theme, you will only focus on one wine variety from a single year. However, each wine will come from multiple vineyards and different producers. For example, you can focus on a 2000 Chenin Blanc from five or seven different wine producers or wineries.

In here, you will consider whether you like to taste wines from the same region or you want to mix it up by tasting the same type of wine that comes from different wineries, such as from California, Australia or Italy.

The second is called Vertical Wine Tasting. Here, the wine tastings are conducted by tasting just one variety of wine. For example, you will only concentrate on tasting the Chenin Blanc from the same producer. However, the wines will be in different vintages or years. For example, you can taste the Chenin Blanc from one winery from years 2000, 2002, and 2004.

This will show the tasters, which are your guests, on how dramatic or subtle a wine can change from year to year.

Priceless Wine Tasting is another great theme for your wine tasting party. You have to remember that people normally assume that wines that are more expensive taste better than cheaper ones. Although this may be true, you can try testing their palate by withholding the price of the variety of wine you have available for tasting. By just tasting, your guests should determine which wine is worth 120 dollars and which one is worth 10 dollars.

Price Point Wine Tasting is another great wine tasting party theme that you may want to try. Here, the wines featured will be in a similar price. The goal here is to keep the wines comparable in a baseline price which is quite flexible for you to organize when it comes to buying the wine.

Another theme is called the Big Eight Wine Tasting. Here, you will get your guests work their way through eight different kinds of wines and determine which one they prefer. This will also give your guests, particular the ones that are not very "in" to wines a new appreciation for the different kinds of wine.

The big eight wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, and Pinot Noir for red wines, and Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio for white wines.

Lastly, the Blind Wine Tasting theme can also work for your party. Just take any of the themes mentioned before, remove the labels from the bottles or put the bottles in wine bags and you have a blind wine tasting party that will surely be a lot of fun for your guests. The fact that your guests will not have any ideas on what wine they taste, it will definitely be interesting to know which kind of wine they prefer without looking at the label or at the price of the wine.

These are the six wine tasting themes that will surely make your wine tasting part a success.

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Good Pairing of Food for Best Wine Tasting Results

Matchmaking for the best food to go with your wine or vice versa is a demand that needs an undivided attention especially if you are hosting a dinner party or a formal event. Food and wine are destined to be together. It’s like marriage that strengthens and enhances the experience of the entire event. It has been quite a demand for whoever is preparing the event to elicit a fine tasting wine and a menu that will go along with it. Matching has been a daunting activity. There had been rumors that stipulate regulations and rules which require adherence for one to obtain the perfect food and wine pair.

First Rule:

There is no such thing as rules, only taste experts. The only thing that separates a good match depends on the people drinking and eating it. Your choice of recipes should not hinder the matches made. What is best is what pleases your preference. It’s a matter of your palate choosing the right kind of wine for the occasion. If your palate doesn’t complement with how the aroma is filled within your nose, then there would be a contradiction.

Second Rule:

Still, rules don’t necessarily exist as what others might portray it. Interactions of flavors are one of the things that should be considered. With it, you have the opportunity to detect 4 flavors which are distinctly effective to stimulate your buds. These flavors are sour, bitter, sweet and salty. Two hundred aromas are deciphered by the nose. Combining the uptakes of your sensory abilities from both your sense of recognizing a taste from recognizing a smell, one can experience a wide array of characteristics of nuances and flavors. As you start to pair your food and wine, you have to remember that food flavor can and will contradict with the wine that you have selected although, there will be, in other occasions that it will complement with the drink.

Third Rule:

Light or heavy dishes should be considered because there is a big difference between steak with potatoes from chicken, salad and stir-fry. Generally, there is a noticeable preference of choosing a heartier food with red wines which are duller-bodied that those delicate wines with the lighter fare. As said, these preferences are all generalizations which compose majority of the masses appeal to how food should be paired. It is not an opinion. Regarding meats, it is much easier to see red wine paired with meat than any other dish.

Other things to be taken into consideration are the moment wherein one looks at the potential of pairing acidity of foods. Foods enhancing acid deposition will work very well with wines that share a certain undertone of acidity. On the other hand, foods that are lean will maintain a good combination to wines that are a drier that the foods they compliment.

No matter how you look at it, matching wine with food can still be a preference one must take into great consideration. Being able to match different types of food from different types of wine is one exciting experience which can be advised to future path-takers.

Components of this matchmaking will enhance the wine tasting strategy of a person. Remember, in every pairing that you do, take note of the effects.

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