A Sensuous Wine Tasting Party

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.

When planning out your menu, it is important to consider what foods pair well with the wine you're serving.  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.

Pairing Cheat Sheet:

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

Have an Itinerary

Next, it's important to plan the flow of 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.