I’ve been doing a lot of morning shows lately and many have asked me to focus on the idea of entertaining on a budget. Wine is notoriously expensive, so when people think budget, they don’t think wine. But I’m going to change your mind on that! And show you how to throw a wildly fun wine party at the same time!
Besides, with everything going on around us, having an intimate dinner with friends while playing games and drinking wine sounds like a fabulous idea. It’s fun on the cheap, and you’ll actually learn something in the process!
Fun Facts About Wine
* It takes about 2 pounds of grapes to make a bottle of wine.
* About 800 gallons of wine are produced from one acre of grapevines.
* The corkscrew was designed in the mid-1800’s.
* Over 10,000 varieties of wine grapes exist in the world today!
* California produces over 680 million gallons of wine annually.
* There are approximately 85 calories in a four ounce glass of red wine.
* The Mesopotamians were credited with producing the first wines in 6000.
* 400 grapevines generally make up an acre.
Tips and Tricks For Wine Parties
Secret Sips
Feature a bunch of different wines in all kinds of price categories from SUPER cheap like Two Buck Chuck to expensive (i.e. the most you can spend). Put the bottles in brown paper bags (tube socks work too and look kinda whimsical and fun!) so nobody can see the labels. Then, see if your guests really can tell the difference!
Fake Out
Pick 4 to 6 wines to serve, ranging from cheap to expensive. Again, hide the bottles in a sock or paperbag. This time though, write the prices of the wines on labels and then affix them to the bottles (you can hang a tag around the neck of the bottle or use a Sharpie marker to write directly on the paper bag). Don’t put the correct price on all of the bottles! The trick is to then see if your guests can guess which prices are wrong (less or more expensive than they should be!). Have them describe why they think one wine is more expensive than the other wine. If you’ve really mixed up the wines, the ones marked most expensive are really the cheapest and vice versa. SO FUN!
Wine IQ Test
Pick four kinds of wines, all different. For example: a shiraz, merlot, cabernet, and zinfandel. Cover the bottles. Then see if your guests can actually tell which varietal is which – you’ll be surprised!
Wine Pairs With Cheese… (and Pot Luck!)
Since we’re trying to do things on the cheap, a full on dinner is not necessary. A selection of cheeses served with crackers and bread works just fine. But, if you’d like to serve something more resembling a meal, have each guest bring a dish and do a Pot Luck dinner. You can have your guests discuss which wines pair best with each food item and why.
Fabulous Favorites!
Have each guest bring his or her favorite wine. This really helps cut down your booze bill and lets everyone enjoy finer, more expensive wines! The stories will make the dinner! (For example, Jack might bring a bottle of Grgich as a gift because he got one when he graduated from college and thought it was really special – it became his favorite ever since.)
Wine Flight Theme
If you have true wine aficionados in the group, why not do a wine flight! Pick a particular varietal or appellation to taste from. For instance, taste 6 different California chardonnays (from anywhere in California), or 6 different cabernets but each from a different country. Taste and rate them and see if people gravitate toward one bottle over another. For added fun, you can give your guests a wine wheel (flavor descriptors) at the beginning of the evening (and they can keep the wheel as a party favor). Guests then write down the characteristics that THEY taste in the wine and compare notes.
[…] you’d like, you can also ask your guests to get involved by asking them to bring a favorite wine or craft beer. This will automatically give you a number of other options and […]