Exploring Different Wines

If you enjoy a good glass of wine but feel stuck in the type that you drink, you’ve come to the right place. In this segment of The Marc and Mandy Show, Mandy learns from Sean Dolenuck how to explore different wines. Tune into the video above for Sean Dolenuck’s expert tips or keep reading for tips on how to throw a wine tasting out of the comfort of your own home.

Guests

The optimal number of people for a wine tasting is between eight and ten. If you’re making your wine party a pot-luck-esq affair, eight to ten bottles is enough to give your wine tasting variety.  To boot: with eight to ten guest bringing wine, you most likely won’t have to foot a large bill for the party.

Glassware 

A good rule of thumb for a wine tasting is two glasses per person. This will allow your guests to have one glass for red and one for white. If you don’t have enough wine glasses, you can always rent. TIP Many wine rental companies don’t require you to wash the glasses before sending them back, saving you some hassle when cleaning up. 

Style

To give your party direction, you can go a couple of different routes:

• Select a type of wine (for instance, pinot grigio, merlot, or rose) and request your guests bring a type of that wine from anywhere in the world. If you want to avoid having duplicates, email your guests in advance with a type and place; for instance, pinot grigio from New Zealand.
• Another idea is to spin a world globe or close your eyes and select a region on a map. If you pull Australia, for instance, have all your guests bring a bottle (red, white, or rose) from Australia.

Food

If you’re asking guests to bring wine from a particular region, it makes sense to provide food inspired by that region. If not, you can do a simple charcuterie board. 

Games

If you want to up the anti of your wine tasting, consider organizing a game or two ahead of a time. One simple game to pull off would be a guessing game. For this game, simply ask everyone to bring bottles that have been concealed in some way, and have your guests guess at what type of wine they are drinking. Have everyone keep track of their guesses on a scorecard, tally up the right answers at the end, and award a prize to the guest with the superior wine knowledge.

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