Let's Celebrate Wine
National Wine Day is held every May, but every day is a day to celebrate wine. Invite your friends and/or family over or meet up to celebrate with wine and wine activities. Here are five ideas for a fun wine-themed event.
- Wine Pairing Menu. Set the menu to pair with your favorite wines. The food doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should be intentional to ensure perfect pairings.
- Wine Glasses. Pull out the stemware for everyone. If you do not have stemware, purchase nice goblets to enjoy your wine. It does make a difference. Like the food, the stemware does not have to be expensive. Here are two tips: Choose the perfect size—a glass with a nice bowl that is tall enough to allow enough space to swirl the wine properly, and one with a thin rim that will have a better mouthfeel.
- Wine-Based Movie Night. There are good wine movies that can entertain your guests. From Bottle Shock (2008), a film based on the 1976 Judgment of Paris, to Sideways (2004), which follows two middle-aged guys who embark on a week-long road trip through California’s wine country. Others include Year in Burgundy, Somm, Sour Grapes, Red Obsession, Mondovino, and many more.
- Wine Board Games. Like me, I love a good board game. They can range from easy to hard. Test your wine knowledge with Wine Wars, a wine trivia game. Others include The Wine Board Game, A Wine Tasting Murder, and Wine-Opoly.
- Blind Wine Tasting. Pick a theme such as Pinot Noir, set a price point, and have everyone bring one or two bottles to share. Each is hidden in a paper sack, and everyone tastes and rates the bottle. Prepare a scorecard and evaluation criteria. Include some questions on the scorecard for participants to guess about location, barrel aging, etc.
