HOLIDAYS
HOLIDAYS
Anyone can embrace wine tasting at a party designed to stimulate guests' senses and arouse their palates. Set out bowls of ingredients like berries or apples, to assist guests in detecting the aromatic notes that wine pros always reference. After this party, even the first-time wine drinker will taste the cherries, or licorice lingering in that evening's vintage.
A delicious risotto prepared with Chardonnay and vegetables.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large brown onion, minced
- 1 Cup carrots, diced
- 2 cups Arborio rice or long grain rice
- 1 Cup broccoli crowns, coarsely chopped
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 Cup Chardonnay
- 1 Cup sweet peas
- 1 Cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Steps
- Heat oil and butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Add rice and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until rice is translucent.
- Add broccoli and stir in broth 1 cup at a time. Cook, stirring constantly, until each cup of broth is fully absorbed before adding next cup.
- Add wine and, peas, and cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is fully absorbed. If rice is not tender, stir in more broth until desired consistency.
- Total cooking time is about 30 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese and serve.
Mushrooms and olives in a marinade of Chianti, rosemary and garlic.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup olive oil
- 1/2 Cup Chianti
- 1/2 Cup red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
- 16 cloves garlic, halved lengthwise
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon pepper
- 1 lb. Monterey mushrooms, scrubbed
- 2 (6 oz. ) cans pitted black olives, drained
Steps
- Whisk together oil, Chianti, vinegar, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper until combined.
- Place mushrooms and olives in a large, clean screw top jar or plastic container with an airtight lid.
- Pour marinade over mushrooms and olives and place lid on container. Shake jar to combine and coat ingredients.
- Refrigerate for 2 days, shaking jar occasionally.
- Before serving, bring ingredients to room temperature. Pour into a serving bowl or place on relish trays. Store for up to 1 week covered in the refrigerator.
The cheese twists make a great snack for a Wine Tasting Party.
Ingredients
- 1/2 (17.3 Oz ) package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
- 3 tablespoons white wine
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese
Steps
- Thaw frozen puff pastry in its package for 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 400F (205C). Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
- Whisk together wine, olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Unfold puff pastry sheet on a flat surface. Cut 1-inch strips widthwise. Brush strips with wine mixture.
- Twist strip several times like a corkscrew and lay on prepared baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining strips.
- Sprinkle strips with cheese and cook for 15 - 18 minutes until puffed and golden brown.
- Cool for 5 minutes and gently peel away from wax paper. Arrange in a lined basket and set on the table.
Delicious dessert topped with a chocolate rum sauce and slivered almonds.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 Cups sugar
- 4 Whole eggs
- 3 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons rum
- 1/2 Cup heavy cream
- 2 Cup(s) all-purpose flour
- 1 Teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 Pint your favorite ice cream, softened
- 1/4 Cup chopped almonds
- For Chocolate Rum Sauce:
- 1/2 Cup water
- 1/2 Cup rum
- 2 Tablespoon corn syrup
- 1 (12 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate
- 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter
Steps
- Preheat oven to 325F (165C). Butter a 5 X 9-inch loaf pan and dust pan lightly with flour. Shake out excess flour.
- Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time beating after each to incorporate. Add 3 tablespoons rum and cream and beat well.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and beat into egg mixture until blended. Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for about 70 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.
- Run knife along edge of cake to loosen from pan and invert onto wire rack. Cool completely.
- Trim sides and bottom crust off cake.
- Slice cake horizontally into 3 even layers.
- Place bottom layer on large sheet of plastic wrap. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon rum over cake.
- Spread 1/2 softened ice cream evenly over bottom cake layer.
- Place middle cake layer on ice cream and sprinkle remaining 1 teaspoon rum over cake.
- Spread remaining 1/2 ice cream evenly over middle cake layer. Place top cake layer on ice cream and wrap cassata tightly in plastic sheet.
- Even up block shape and place back into loaf pan. Freeze for 2 hours or until solid.
- Just before serving make Chocolate Rum Sauce. Heat water, rum, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until just boiling. Reduce heat to low and stir in chocolate and butter until smooth. Remove from heat.
- Unwrap cassata and place on large serving platter. Pour a generous amount of sauce over top so it runs down sides.
- Sprinkle almonds over top. Pour remaining sauce in a bowl or spouted vessel and serve on side.
- Cut cassata crosswise per guest's request and top with extra sauce. Store wrapped in plastic in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Store sauce covered in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
More Wine Tasting Tips
Wine is Sensuous, Indeed
- Drinking Wine Like a Pro
- 5 Tips for a Wine and Cheese Party
- Tips for the Wine Lover Who Dreams of Paris
The "Wine & Priming Ingredient Match-Up" is a list of some excellent priming ingredients to be paired with popular varietals.
Some ingredients will serve as primers for a couple of wines, such as apples, which can be used for many white wines, or blackberries, suitable for many red wines. Although I've only chosen six types of wine, the primer ingredients listed should work with similar varietals.
Wine & Priming Ingredient Match-Up
Some ingredients will serve as primers for a couple of wines, such as apples, which can be used for many white wines, or blackberries, suitable for many red wines. Although I've only chosen six types of wine, the primer ingredients listed should work with similar varietals.
Wine & Priming Ingredient Match-Up
- Chardonnay: butter, vanilla, apple, pear, charred oak, toasted almonds, caramel, peaches
- Sauvignon Blanc: pineapple, apple, fresh grass or wheat grass, nectarines, melon, orange slices, apricot jam, jasmine blossoms
- Pinot Grigio/Gris: lemon peel, white pepper, honey, straw, peaches, grapefruit, rose petals
- Cabernet Sauvignon: black peppercorns, blackberries, dark chocolate, currant jam, black licorice, cloves, cinnamon
- Merlot: blackberries, plum jam, cherries, boysenberry jam, milk chocolate, espresso beans, fresh mint
- Syrah/Shiraz: blackberries, violets, strawberry jam, cedar chips, mushrooms, tea leaves
Wine Tasting Notes
Tasting notes will help you determine the priming ingredients you're going to set out at the party.
Tasting notes can usually be found on the winemaker's website, or search for the particular bottle at an online store like Wine.com.
Make sure that you'll have a few bottles of both red and white wine for a nice variety. After the tasting, invite guests to pick up their favorite bottles of wine and join you at the dinner table, while conversations of toasted oak and rich, fruit tones continue throughout the evening.
Our four basic tastes, (sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) don't really tell us about the nuances of wine. It's our sense of smell that identifies most flavor characteristics. Wine is consumed through our mouth, therefore we use the term "taste." But, it is the marriage of our nose and tongue which sends a signal to the brain that says, "Oh yeah, vanilla is what I'm enjoying in this glass of Chardonnay."
Encourage guests to smell a primer ingredient, and then sniff the wine's bouquet.
They should immediately be able to detect if the ingredient's scent is present in the wine's aroma.
They may move on to another ingredient or take a sip, after which they'll read the tasting notes and discuss their findings.
Oenophiles will want to delve into the complexity of the wine's color and texture. Such discourse is educational and entertaining, but the main idea is to experience the wine through one's senses no matter how much they know about tasting, with little attention paid to its technicalities.
On with the tasting!
- Pour a little wine in the glass.
- Smell a primer ingredient for that wine.
- Swirl the wine in the glass.
- Inhale the aroma of the wine.
- Sip the wine.
- Read the tasting notes on the card and discuss.
What do wine connoisseurs look for under the cork?
- An excellent wine balances the flavor of the grape with the aromatictones of the cask, and the vintner's special crafting secrets.
- Expertsalso have their technical checklist of tannins, acidity, weight, and soon, which they mentally compute with every sip.
- Perhaps the bestindication of a wine's quality is the "aftertaste" or "finish." A winethat pleasantly lingers on your palate for 20 to 30 seconds is usuallyconsidered to be outstanding.
Put the professional standards aside for your wine tasting party.
- Yourguests already have the knowledge they need to figure out their likesand dislikes in a bottle of wine.
- As the party host, you can help themalong by "priming their palates." Tasting notes on a bottle of wineoften spell out specific characteristics or ingredients that the proshave identified, such as "tones of ripe berries" or "notes of stonefruit".
- By setting out bowls of these ingredients at your wine tastingparty, guests can prime their senses to detect the nuances in a bottleof wine, by smelling the ingredient first, and then taking a whiff ofthe wine. It gives their palate a "head start" through the sense ofsmell, which is really how we "taste" wine.
Wine Party Favors
Unique Favors for Guests
As this party is all about experiencing whatever the wine's aroma offers, ask guests to bring their favorite bottle of wine. Request that they inform you of their choice ahead of time, so you can look up the wine's tasting notes, and choose the priming ingredients.
Then, proceed to set-up your beautiful wine arrangement this way:
Then, proceed to set-up your beautiful wine arrangement this way:
- Line up the wine bottles along the back of the tasting table.
- Place small bowls or ramekins of the priming ingredients in front of the wine they represent. For example, a bottle of Merlot may have bowls containing chocolate and blackberries in front of it, and Chardonnay may have bowls of vanilla bean and apple as a primer.
- Create a note card for each bottle of wine with its tasting notes, and place the cards behind their bottles.
- Place red and white wine glasses on either end of the table.
- Place a couple of pitchers of water on the table, and a discard container. Guests can rinse their glasses with the water and then pour it into the container, or use it as a spittoon.
- Offer plain crackers as a palate cleanser between wines.
Basic Wine Tasting
Party
Party
Wine Storage
How to Choose Wine
Glasses
Glasses
