As the calendar moves toward autumn, it’s the perfect time for cozy, intimate gatherings with friends and family. We love to hang out with the ones we love and just relax, but sometimes it’s time to try something different. Your Havenwood home is the perfect location for a low-key (but very posh) wine tasting! Today, we’ll be offering up some practical advice for hosting your own perfect, at-home wine tasting.

Choose a Theme

Consider the tastes of your guests. Do they typically enjoy both red and white varieties? Choosing a specific palette of wine can be a great way to steer the evening. Are your guests well-traveled? Choose wines from a region they’ve been to before. Or, take things up a notch and create a global theme with wines from regions around the world. Whatever way you go, make sure to create a structure that will help guide your selections.

Ask for Contributions

To avoid feeling like the evening’s entertainer, ask each guest to contribute a wine of their own. This can add to the fun of the tasting as each participant lends his/her expert knowledge and experience to the tasting. Bonus: this can help defray costs…which, when it comes to wine, can become a bit significant.

Don’t Forget Food

To avoid guests becoming lightheaded, make sure you select some snacks to go with the tasting portion, and finish the evening’s festivities with a hearty meal. Charcuterie boards are a great option to put out while sipping; ask your local cheesemonger for recommendations on which cheeses go best with which wines. Then, finish the evening with some petite steaks, some juicy burgers, or any other filling fare that will help everyone go home full and happy.

Set Your Places

Up the fancy factor by providing glasses at each plate ready to go. Don’t have enough wine glasses? Ask guests to bring some to donate to the cause! Wine tastings are even more fun if they’re a little extravagant, so go all out with table linens and place cards if you’re in the mood. Enjoy – it’s a great opportunity to have some fun!

Provide a Card

Grab some simple wine feedback cards (or print your own) so guests can take notes on which variety they like best. If you’re doing a blind tasting, this is a fun way to have each guest guess which wine is which. It makes the reveal that much more fun – and competitive if your guests enjoy that vibe.

Enjoy!

Have a blast at your at-home wine tasting! Remember, as the host, you’ll get to skip the drive home and indulge to your heart’s content.