40th Birthday Party - Wine Tasting

And now for something completely different. My husband turned *cough* 40 this year and to celebrate I threw him a party at our house. The question was what would the theme be? I have been hosting kiddie parties for years now ~ pasta party, cupcake party, sledding party, outdoor park party, etc, etc. None of these themes seemed to fit my 40 year old husband. Then he suggested a theme to me...build a wine cellar. Not literally of course (no hammers and nails involved) rather, build a wine collection party. Perfect. Now, if we were going to host a wine party, we had to have a wine tasting...right. I took to Pinterest and searched for inspiration. The inspiration was sadly lacking. Thus, today's post. While I am usually posting about kid parties...the world really needs a post about hosting a wine tasting...trust me.

So, where to start? The invitation asked each guest to bring along a bottle of wine for my husband's wine cellar (a keeper) and one bottle for tasting (a sharer). Our guests happily complied. For the wine tasting I designated a spot, the top of a bookcase, for all the tasting supplies.

Numbered brown paper bags were used to cover and disguise each bottle of wine. A rubber band around the collar of the bottle tied the bag up neatly and easily.

I created a wine score card, specially tailored to my husband and our friends. We also supplied pencils so guests could easily complete the cards.

I purchased small plastic shot glasses the guests could use to taste the wine. If it had been a smaller party I would have used wine glasses, but with a large group I never would have had enough glasses.

For those guests who might not have ever "tasted" wine before, I put together a list of tips and tricks to help them out.

After the guests completed their cards I tallied up the votes and we discovered which wine people enjoyed the most and the least.

At the end of the night our guests had tasted 3 different bottles of wine. It was difficult hosting a wine tasting for a group of 40 people. With so much mingling and chatting going on, it was hard to get our guests to stop and complete the wine tasting. Ideally, a wine tasting party would have 20 or fewer guests. That way everyone can discuss the wine they are tasting. I think we had about half the guests participate. The results weren't too surprising...the most expensive bottle was the favourite.

Have you ever hosted a wine tasting event. Do you have any other tips to share? Please leave your tip in the comments below...I would love to hear what your experiences are.

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