What could be better than a wine party? How about a wine party teaching you how to throw a wine party! The Stay At Home Winos were most fortunate to be asked to host just such a party!
Last Thursday, the Winos hosted "How To Host A Blind Wine Tasting" at Fezziwigs's Marketplace in Lebanon, Illinois. First, a little back ground on Fezziwig's!(http://www.fezziwigsmarket.com/index.html)
Fezziwig's opened their unique shop in historic Lebanon, Illinois in 2007. Ellen Leaf-Moore and her husband Tim Moore, both with extensive retail management experience, decided the shopping district in Lebanon would be the perfect backdrop for a wine and gourmet food business. They didn't stop there, later adding home decor, entertaining essentials, gourmet olive oils and an enormous list of loose leaf teas. My Husband and I started visiting (with and without our children) soon after Fezziwig's opened their doors. In some ways for the Stay At Home Winos, Fezziwig's was the beginning of our journey. Both Lisa and Beth have worked, and still occasionally work, at Fezziwig's and the three of us have spent a lot of time (and money) in this great shop.
One of the specialties at Fezziwig's, other than wine, is loose leaf teas. Ellen Leaf-Moore is a Level IV Certified Educator Specialist with the New York-based Specialty Tea Institute. Fezziwig's "Wall of Tea" contains over 100 different types of loose leaf teas! Teas can be purchased in-store or on line! In addition, Ellen teaches classes, such as "Blending Your Own Botanical Tea", which will be held on Tuesday, August 13.
Finally, this wonderful store offers home decorating and entertaining items, as well as classes on cooking, decorating and entertaining. But my personal favorite is Fezziwig's delicious wine! They carry an assortment of varietals that are unique and delicious! To this day, some of my favorite wines are those I have purchased or enjoyed at Fezziwig's! Further, the atmosphere of this lovely gem has contributed greatly to some wonderful memories I have made with my family and friends!
But, back to the wine class! The main focus of this class was to teach participants how to host their own blind tasting at home. The Stay At Home Winos gave an overview of how the evening would go, and we got started!
The first step in hosting a blind wine tasting, is to decide on a theme. For the class, we chose three red wines and three white wines - all different varietals. We gave participants a sheet that outlined the characteristics of five red varietals and five white varietals, letting them know that the three wines of each type were listed among the five.
In their own wine tastings, participants would also need a group of wine drinking friends, wine (covered - of course!) and finger food. We had three types of cheese, crackers, cashews and bread sticks to go with our wines this evening. Of course, chocolate covered grapes were offered at the end, as well! Other staples of a blind tasting include water, white background with which to judge the color of the wine, paper and pens, a dump bucket (if you do that sort of thing), a scoring sheet and a small prize for the winner.
For our class, we started with whites. We gave participants helpful hints on how to hold their glasses (by the stems), how and why to swirl (my specialty!), how to properly enjoy the nose and how to taste. Participants were asked if they smelled any particular aromas and what they tasted. They were also asked if anyone had an idea which wine was which varietal. After all the score sheets for the whites were handed in, we found we had one participant who had guessed all three varietals correctly! She received a bottle of wine preserver. (Congrats, Jackie!)
After a brief intermission, and some shopping, our guests were once again seated at the table for round two - reds! We went through the same analysis of our three reds, as we had done for our whites. The reds proved to be infinitely more challenging to our guests. There were many great responses about what our guests found on the nose and mouth. In the end, however, no one matched all three...or two...but several people were able to guess one of the three. Those guests received a bottle of delicious gourmet BBQ sauce.
Overall, the evening was a resounding success, and demonstrated that a blind tasting isn't as easy as one would think! Our participants had great questions that sparked interesting discussions. The Stay At Home Winos truly enjoyed hosting this class and meeting all of the participants. Further, we enjoyed being together at a place that holds such amazing memories for the three of us.
Cheers!
Mary Jo
Fezziwig's opened their unique shop in historic Lebanon, Illinois in 2007. Ellen Leaf-Moore and her husband Tim Moore, both with extensive retail management experience, decided the shopping district in Lebanon would be the perfect backdrop for a wine and gourmet food business. They didn't stop there, later adding home decor, entertaining essentials, gourmet olive oils and an enormous list of loose leaf teas. My Husband and I started visiting (with and without our children) soon after Fezziwig's opened their doors. In some ways for the Stay At Home Winos, Fezziwig's was the beginning of our journey. Both Lisa and Beth have worked, and still occasionally work, at Fezziwig's and the three of us have spent a lot of time (and money) in this great shop.
One of the specialties at Fezziwig's, other than wine, is loose leaf teas. Ellen Leaf-Moore is a Level IV Certified Educator Specialist with the New York-based Specialty Tea Institute. Fezziwig's "Wall of Tea" contains over 100 different types of loose leaf teas! Teas can be purchased in-store or on line! In addition, Ellen teaches classes, such as "Blending Your Own Botanical Tea", which will be held on Tuesday, August 13.
Finally, this wonderful store offers home decorating and entertaining items, as well as classes on cooking, decorating and entertaining. But my personal favorite is Fezziwig's delicious wine! They carry an assortment of varietals that are unique and delicious! To this day, some of my favorite wines are those I have purchased or enjoyed at Fezziwig's! Further, the atmosphere of this lovely gem has contributed greatly to some wonderful memories I have made with my family and friends!
But, back to the wine class! The main focus of this class was to teach participants how to host their own blind tasting at home. The Stay At Home Winos gave an overview of how the evening would go, and we got started!
The first step in hosting a blind wine tasting, is to decide on a theme. For the class, we chose three red wines and three white wines - all different varietals. We gave participants a sheet that outlined the characteristics of five red varietals and five white varietals, letting them know that the three wines of each type were listed among the five.
In their own wine tastings, participants would also need a group of wine drinking friends, wine (covered - of course!) and finger food. We had three types of cheese, crackers, cashews and bread sticks to go with our wines this evening. Of course, chocolate covered grapes were offered at the end, as well! Other staples of a blind tasting include water, white background with which to judge the color of the wine, paper and pens, a dump bucket (if you do that sort of thing), a scoring sheet and a small prize for the winner.
For our class, we started with whites. We gave participants helpful hints on how to hold their glasses (by the stems), how and why to swirl (my specialty!), how to properly enjoy the nose and how to taste. Participants were asked if they smelled any particular aromas and what they tasted. They were also asked if anyone had an idea which wine was which varietal. After all the score sheets for the whites were handed in, we found we had one participant who had guessed all three varietals correctly! She received a bottle of wine preserver. (Congrats, Jackie!)
After a brief intermission, and some shopping, our guests were once again seated at the table for round two - reds! We went through the same analysis of our three reds, as we had done for our whites. The reds proved to be infinitely more challenging to our guests. There were many great responses about what our guests found on the nose and mouth. In the end, however, no one matched all three...or two...but several people were able to guess one of the three. Those guests received a bottle of delicious gourmet BBQ sauce.
Overall, the evening was a resounding success, and demonstrated that a blind tasting isn't as easy as one would think! Our participants had great questions that sparked interesting discussions. The Stay At Home Winos truly enjoyed hosting this class and meeting all of the participants. Further, we enjoyed being together at a place that holds such amazing memories for the three of us.
Cheers!
Mary Jo
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