You’ve delved into the world of buying wine and you love it! So why not share what you’ve learned with family and friends by hosting a wine-tasting party? It’s a great way to bring people together to experiment with new wines or share your favorites. There are a number of choices to consider as you plan your wine-tasting party.

Side by side: The first step in your planning process is to decide what type of tasting you’ll host. The best way to determine differences and similarities in wine is to taste them side-by-side and there are two distinct ways to go about that: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal tasting uses wines from the same vintage. This is a good way to compare different wineries instead of different vintages. Vertical tasting uses wines from a variety of different vintages, but all from the same winery and reveals more about the vintages rather than the wineries.

You can also opt to conduct a general tasting, in which there are no limitations on the wines you choose to sample. It’s fun to pick varieties from a particular region of the world…variety of grape…or even price range.

Be My Guest: The next step is to determine how many people you’ll invite; 8 to 12 is considered to be a perfect number of guests…large enough to promote interaction and small enough to be manageable. Send invites via mail or email to arrive at least two weeks prior to the tasting.

The Scorecard: You’ll want to design a “tasting card” for each guest that indicates the type of wine, the name of the vineyard, and year of the harvest and a brief description of each wine you will taste so they can keep “score”. (Most of the information can be obtained from the label on the bottle; sample forms can be found online.)

Think “Theme”: Whether you’re buying your wine online (the easiest method) or in the store, the selections are endless...where do you begin? You might consider a “California Chardonnay” theme…or perhaps a “Wonderful Wine Under $10.00” party. Just be creative…wine-tasting parties are all about fun! When buying the wine, keep in mind that each pour you do for your guests should only be 2 ounces…so for 8 people or less, one 750 ml bottle should suffice.

Let the Games Begin: It’s time for the fun part…tasting the wine! Provide each of your guests with two glasses…one for reds and one for whites. When tasting, always go from the lightest to heaviest and from the driest to sweetest. Make sure your guests are marking their preferences on their scorecards. Lastly, don’t forget to provide your guests with plain bread and water between wines; this allows them to cleanse their palate in preparation for the next wine.

Go Blindly Into the Wine: Another fun idea is a “blind tasting”, which reduces the change of rating being influenced by the personal preferences of your guests. You can wrap each bottle with aluminum foil, label it with a number, and then have your guests judge it by the number on the bottle. There you’ve got it…remember, it’s all about having fun!