In-Home Wine Tasting Fun!

Over this past year we three winos have enjoyed sharing our growing knowledge of wine at various social and charity events.  Wanting to spread our wings to small groups we also donated silent auction baskets with gift certificates including In-Home Wine Tasting parties for 8 people. This past Saturday we hosted our inaugural In-Home Wine Tasting at the home of a Silent Auction Bid winner!

Mary and Lewis were the awesome winners and we had a blast with them and their six guests!

The package included three wines and expertly paired gourmet cheeses including a little wine education and a whole lot of fun!  We even included set up of glasses, plates and cleanup just so the hosts could enjoy the evening just as much as their friends.

Not knowing them or their tastes, I spoke with the hosts ahead of time to get an idea of the wines they currently enjoyed.  They had lived in various countries so they were familiar with Italian and Spanish wines.  From that information I suggested a Blind Wine Tasting and we would stay with three dry reds.  At this point we 3 winos did our "homework" and chose three different wines and taste tested the cheeses so we would have a great evening.  Let the game begin!

We set up three glasses at each place setting of white appetizer plates on top of black chalkboard paper.  Our wine bottles were covered in the chalkboard paper and labeled A, B, and C.

With scoresheets for taking notes, we walked everyone through the steps we use in our own "classes". First, we took a look at the color of all three wines and let everyone come up with their own description.  Then we had them bury their noses deep into the glass to enjoy the nose or smell of each wine.  And finally.... TASTE the wine!....all the while sharing what everyone was tasting and taking notes.  Using a Wine Varietal sheet of a choice of SIX wines we had everyone vote on the three wines to see who got all or any of their choices correct.  Being the teacher that Beth is, we had them pass their papers to the right and they each "graded" them as we unveiled the wines. Our winner had two out of the three correct!  And is now the proud owner of a "Fish" winestopper!!

So I know you are dying to know what the wines were.....

Wine A-  Charles Krug 2010 Merlot ($19.99 at Randall's)

Wine B-  Beronia Rioja Reserva ($18.99 at Plaza Liquor)

Wine C-  Las Acequias 2010 Malbec ($14.99 at The Wine Merchant)

Once we revealed the wines, everyone enjoyed trying each of the following cheeses with each of the wines:

Flory's Truckle Aged Cheddar ( Missouri cheese from The Wine Merchant)

Cave Aged Gruyere Raw Cow Cheese (The Wine Merchant)

Manchego Cheese (Dierburg's)

Prairie Breeze Cheddar (Dierburg's)

What a fun time it was watching everyone trying new tastes!  Of course we had to add a little something extra - Bissinger's Dark Chocolate Covered Wine Grapes (from Fezziwig's).  Yum!

Well what a fun night we had presenting our first official In-Home Wine Tasting!  We want to thank Mary and Lewis for winning the Silent Auction Basket and hope they enjoyed the evening as much as we enjoyed "educating" them and their friends.

Cheers!

Lisa