wine tasting party

I don't know a whole lot about wine, except that I like to consume it. my husband has done a really good job of teaching me about the different types of grapes & regions & ways to ferment it, etc etc . but the thought of actually hosting a wine party (while robert was out of town for a week) is a little intimidating. but I did some research & decided to have six girls from work over for an italian wine night (I personally liked the idea of keeping it intimate). I wanted to keep it simple, so I decided to narrow it down to my favorite country, italy. I went to the wine store and picked out a few different types of wine from different regions, all under about $13. we had a great time sampling the wines, one by one, and trying to describe what we were tasting. after each wine, I would read the descriptions of what we were "supposed" to be tasting to see if we got it correct.

for the invitations, I bought different charms for each person & attached them to earrings (found in the beading/jewelry section at michaels) which served as wine charms for the glasses.

here are the 5 different wines that I served. 2 whites (la delizia from vento; fourplay no 1 blanco chianti from sicily), 2 reds (straccali chianti from tuscana; nero d'avola from sicily), and a prosecco (prosecco veneto). they were all delicious.

I kept the menu simple, serving food that didn't require utensils. bruschetta, cheese and crackers, pears, grapes, tortellini/olive/artichoke skewers, and salami. all of the food went really well with the wines. I gave each person a white wine glass & a red wine glass, as well as a dump bucket in the middle.

I printed out a sheet for each person to make notes on what they tasted and which wines they liked, in case they wanted to purchase them later.

I found this really cool regional map of italy on the internet & put it on mat board so we could see where all the wines were harvested.

salute! cin cin!