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dining_delight

Christmas Wine Tasting

dining_delight
15 years ago

I have missed being on this forum so much these past few weeks while getting ready for our wine tasting last weekend. It was a big job because I had decided to have the house totally decorated for Christmas for it. Unfortunately, I was in such a last minute rush when taking the pics before the guests arrived, most of them are not too good but thought I'd share anyway. Pour yourself a glass of wine and pretend you are here visiting with me while I walk you through it!

The first wine tasting station was near the front door. Here, we greeted guests giving them a wine glass with an individual charm on it and a note card to record which wines they liked or disliked. Although not well seen, the first wine was set here as well, it was called "Dirty Laundry", a white wine produced in Summerland, B.C.

I made wine tasting note cards for guests to record whether they liked or disliked the wine. We had chosen wines with unusual names as the ones we started with. Guests brought a bottle of wine that they wanted to try as well and lines were left blank for those ones to be added.

In lieu of host/hostess gifts for our wine tasting, we asked that guests bring a donation towards Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan's Purse, a charity we support.

At this station, we had a blush wine called "Red Guitar" (Spain) and a white wine called "Goats Do Roam" (California). An assortment of different cheeses and crackers were served at this station with more snacks and hot appies put out later. I happened upon the sign at a local store one day after setting up for our wine tasting event, and just HAD to get it!

I typed up cards displaying what was written on the back of each wine bottle as quite a few of them were humourous and if the guests didn't bring their eyeglasses, they wouldn't have been able to read them! (blurry pic unfortunately!)

This Truck Stop wine station was set up on the kitchen island and was so named as we had a red wine called "Red Truck" and a white wine called "White Truck", both from California, ready for tasting. Off to the side of the island, you see a wooden logging truck my Dad made for our son when he was little, it fit our theme for this station very well.

This wine tasting station was given a "frosty" look as it displayed the dessert wines and ice wine which went well with the many dessert squares my Mom generously made for our party.

This station was set up near the front windows of our house. The red wine we placed here was called "Gnarly Head" a product of California. Once the wine tasting party was underway, hot appetizers were passed around and then left at each of the different stations (not shown in picture).

We had 20 guests and had such a fun time! It was certainly not any "official" wine tasting but rather just a relaxed evening with friends. The note cards I made up ended up being hilarious as everyone was saying they had to "get their homework done" and "there's going to be a test" as well, some people wrote some very witty remarks that matched the names of the wine. Wonder if this will become an annual event at our house now....?

Now, I'm off to catch up on all your great posts/pics - so many at this time of year! I hope to post some pics of my Christmas decor later too. (one good thing, I'm ALL decorated now!)

DD

Comments (14)

  • oldalgebra
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm doing this. I'm doing this. I'm doing this next year!
    What a great idea. Nobody has to feel out of their element (as I surely would be if everything were set up on a more serious note).
    I've taken down everything you said. If you think of anything else, please add to it. It sounds like it was an absolute ball!
    OA

  • Sheeisback_GW
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That is so elegant!! Wow I bet it took you a long time to get all that ready! Looks really great. I'm taking notes!

  • luvstocraft
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Dining Delight, we are "delighted" to have you back with us and with such a neat story about your event and pics of all your pretty decor for it. I agree with OA, this would be a fun and very comfortable event to attend. Love the names of the wines you found, I had no idea there even were such wines. How cool the way you set up the various stations. So glad it turned out great, and now you can finally relax a bit--especially since you are all done decorating! (I have boxes all over the place right now!) Luvs

  • mo13
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, Dining Delight - that is fantastic. Thanks for the details on all the pics. You have put in a lot of thought and work into this. It looks like all that paid off - everything looks great. I love all your notecards and different stations idea.

    Mo

  • donnawb
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Love how you did all your stations and the notepad. It sounds like a lot of fun.

  • mommacass
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wonderful DD! What a great idea for a fun evening. I would love to do something like this. So did guests keep the same wine glass all through the evening? How many bottles of wine did you use for 20 guests? I think we all need more details!

  • prosperity66
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh yes, DD, please, give us more details as we'll be able to host our own wine tasting party ;-))))

    You did a wonderful job on the settings and everything else! You're so talented!

    I really enjoyed your pictures and short explanations of everything we can see. Also, except the Icewine, I don't know any of the other wines, so, I'd like to know what they are: sweet, half, etc. Also, the "Red Guitar" seems to be ros am I wrong? Anyway, I love its color!

    Waiting for more ;-)

  • kathleen_li
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    DD, I was wondering what happened to you!
    Your party looks lovely! I don't drink, but I love all the decorations. Now you are all finished decorating and I have just begun! Lucky you!
    I bet they all had a wonderful time...

  • Sandi_W
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    dining delight, All of your wine stations look great and the detail you put into your stations is wonderful. I love all of your pics. Thank you for sharing them with us.

  • blizlady
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you so much for sharing your wine tasting party with us! Yes, please do share a few more details as to how many bottles of each wine did you need, did people pour just a small amount of each, did they use the same glass throughout, etc. I really would love to try this for a neighborhood open house!

  • Purplemoon
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey DD, missed you a lot. What a great party idea, and I can't imagine the workload you had putting it on. Thanks for sharing the photos and details with us.

    hugs, Karen

  • jamie_mt
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you so much for sharing your pictures and your experience! I would just love to do something like this...and I'm taking notes too. Maybe in the spring...

    Gorgeous stations and decorations, and it sounds like it was a very laid back, fun event. I wonder if you could ask each person to bring their own favorite wine glass?

    Congrats on being all decorated for the season. Wanna come over and kick me into gear now? ;-)

  • dining_delight
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you EVERYONE for your compliments, comments and questions. It is always fun to do an event/party when I know I will be sharing it with all of you afterwards! Its like you are invited too!

    I will try to answer some of the questions and please ask again, if I happen to miss something. As for bottles of wine, we started with 6 of our own (with the strange names) and asked the guests to bring a bottle PER COUPLE that they wanted to try (did not have to have a strange name). This is where it got to be a bit much though as each couple seemed to bring 2 bottles, one red and one white and some even brought three! So in the end, there were actually TOO MANY wines to try and we ended up sending some home with them again. I believe DH counted about 12 bottles completely gone and 13 bottles with some out of them. (not including ones never opened and sent back home).

    I went back and forth on the glass/guest idea. I know myself I like the appropriate type of glass for the appropriate wine but it seemed too hard to get everyone to have 2 types of glasses to carry around. Plus, at the wine tasting event we had attended for years (at local hotel), they always used one glass/guest. I did attach wine charms (used different ribbons on some when I ran out of charms)and was glad about that since I ended up "losing" my glass many times while preparing the hot snacks, etc. Jamie, I am really liking your idea of asking the guests to bring their own glass - that way they can bring a fancy one or one that they don't care gets broken (which happened to two of mine - luckily on the hardwood in the kitchen because it was red wine! - we had lots of carpet stain remover on hand just in case!)

    This was a TOTALLY unofficial type of wine tasting and just FUN. I don't even know the sweetness codes, etc of the wines we bought (yes, Prosperity, the Red Guitar was a rose but that is about as detailed as I got with it other than where it was produced). It was all about trying them out and having a laugh or two when we didn't like one.

    By the end of the evening, most guests had switched to other drinks as we also had an open bar set up. DH cranked up the music and there was even dancing - so you can see, this wasn't some "snobby" affair. I totally loved it and will probably do it again next year. It would be easier knowing how the "stations" would go, etc.
    This sign was totally our "motto" for the evening!

  • oldalgebra
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dining D,
    Thank you so much for sharing some of the details of your party. It sounds like such fun. I have copied every word (and every picture) and will refer to it several times, I'm sure.
    Again, thanks for taking the time to record all your efforts.
    OA