Ever since watching the Netflix Documentary, Somm (it follows 3 men as they prepare to take an exam that would make them masters of wine), I've been loving the idea of being able to tell so much about a drink just by using 3 senses (look, smell, and taste). But those guys train for years and spend thousands of dollars to achieve the title of Master Sommeliers, I just want to be able to do it as a fun party trick. So, I came up with the idea to throw a wine tasting party (also the perfect thing to do in-doors because it's so cold out.) It gives a gathering a fun activity, a bit of learning, and an excuse for a massive cheese board (which I'm always looking for).
First I started with getting 6 different wines (I went with 3 red and 3 white) and placed them in a numbered bag, and that's pretty much the hardest party of the party. I created a cheese board and set out wine glasses and wine tasting cards for everyone and the party handled itself. Once the guests arrived everyone tried whatever wines they wanted to, in any order and we filled out our cards based on the color, smell, and taste of the wine. After all the cards were filled out I revealed what types of wines where in the bags (but not which one was in which bag) and we tried to determine which type went with each card. This part helps if you know a bit about wine ahead of time, but even if you don't you can still enjoy this part of the game. I researched each type of wine I was planning to use and put together a wine guide card based on them. That way when we see our tasting card that says wine number 3 was sweet and white, we can match it to the guide that says a moscato is a white, sweet wine. Then we had the big reveal! After telling everyone which wine corresponded to each number bag we looked over our cards to see how many we got right. Turns out the person at our party who thought they knew the least about wine ended up getting the most right!
Over all I learned a ton trying so many types of wine and we had a great time discussing them over some fancy cheese. This is a type of party I would suggest if you are getting to know people, that way the conversation never really dies or if you have any friends who are aspiring sommeliers, like me.