How to Host a Blind Wine Tasting Party
Throwing a wine tasting party can be both entertaining and educational for you and your guests, no matter what your level of wine understanding might be. However, throwing a "blind" wine tasting can kick your party up a notch by making it more of a challenge or game for your guests, and making wine tasting scents even more important.
At a "non-blind" wine tasting party, guests know which wines they’re going to taste beforehand. At blind wine tasting parties, guests have no idea what wine varieties, brands, flavors, or even what price range they’re going to sample. This can be a lot of fun because some people might have a preconceived notion or even a bit of prejudice about certain kinds of wines, so having a blind wine tasting eliminates this sort of bias. The proof is truly in the pudding when all the wines are on a level playing field of anonymity.
There are many ideas for wine tasting party fun, but when preparing for blind tasting, you should decide on a general theme. You can buy wines that are from different countries, regions, or grape varieties. (There are even wine tasting party kits you can buy.) Provide your guests a written description of each wine’s characteristics, such as flavors, aromas, or tannic qualities to look for when tasting. Many of these descriptions can come right from the wine’s label. You can also choose wines of varying price ranges, from cheap table wines to more expensive quality wines. Your guests must try to determine which wines are the cheapest and the most expensive. No matter what your wine theme is, each guest should be given a score card with different categories to evaluate each wine’s qualities and whether or not they like them.
Before your guests arrive, you need to conceal the identity of each bottle of wine. Purchase some tall brown paper bags, the kind they make for bottles, and put each bottle of wine inside one. You’ll want to put either rubber bands or tape around the bags at the necks to prevent them from falling off while pouring. You might want to remove any foil caps from the wine’s necks as well, to conceal any telltale markings. Write a letter (A, B, C, etc.) on each bag so you know which wine to serve next and for your guests to know which wine they’re evaluating on their scorecards.
Like non-blind wine tasting parties, you’ll want to serve your wines from white to red, light to full-bodied, sweet to dry, or young to old. The glasses used for wine tasting are important - each guest will need a large-bowled wine glass in order to properly swirl and sniff each wine. Using plastic cups will not allow your guests to fully enjoy and analyze the wine, so stick with real glasses. Each guest also needs a disposable cup to discard any wine they don’t swallow, as well as the all important wine tasting score cards and pencil. The table should have a large container for pouring out any unused wine guests want to discard and a pitcher of water to be used for cleaning out glasses between wines. In addition, you’ll want to have something available to cleanse the palate, such as bread, plain crackers, and water.
Once the wine tasting is complete, each guest should turn in their scorecards and the results tallied. Remove the bags from the wines to reveal the identities of each wine. Prizes can be awarded to those who guessed the most correctly, preferably a bottle of their favorite wine. In the end, you and your guests will have had a wonderful time learning about different wines and what makes them so delicious!
- Chrysta Lea Baker
Chrysta is a freelance writer who enjoys wine and hopes to bring a sense of fun and enthusiasm through her writing for new wine enthusiasts.
