The Best Wine Tasting Theme Ideas For An Intimate & Fun Wine Tasting Experience

 

 

Photo by Kien 

Are you planning on hosting a wine tasting party with your closest friends? If so we are here to help! The first step to hosting a successful and fun wine tasting party is to choose a theme for your party. We have listed for you 6 wine themes to choose from. All of which are guaranteed to make your intimate gathering a successful one.

 

Wine tasting parties are a lot of fun and it is relatively easy for people to plan and host them. Hosting a wine tasting party even if it is just with the people in your household is a great way to have a good time. Explore our blog for wine pairing tips, or dive into our Wine 101 Guide for deeper flavorful insights and more!

Fantastic Food & Wine Pairings HERE!

 

 

Six Theme Ideas That You Can Use For Your Wine Tasting Party

 

 

1. Horizontal Wine Tasting

The first great theme for a wine tasting party is the Horizontal Wine Tasting. This wine tasting theme focuses on one wine variety from a single year. However, each wine will come from multiple vineyards and different producers. For example, you can focus on a 2000 Chenin Blanc from five or seven different wine producers or wineries. This wine theme is all about the year the wine was made.

 

You and your guests will have the option to taste wines from the same region or also mix it up by tasting the same type of wine that comes from different wineries, such as from California, Australia or Italy. Ex. a Merlot from California, Italy, Australia all from the year 1998.

 

Below are a few wine options that align perfectly with this theme:

 

REDS (2020)
Capanna Rosso de Cerro 2020 (Italy)
Chateau Musar Jeune Red 2020 (Lebanon)
Domaine de L'Harmas Cotes du Rhone 2020 (France)

WHITES (2021)
Sea Pearl Sauvignon Blanc 2021 (New Zealand)
Sokol Blosser Pinot Gris 2021 (USA, Oregon)
Murdoch Hill Chardonnay 2021 (Australia)

 

2. Vertical Wine Tasting

 

 

 

 

Photo by Kien 

The second wine tasting theme is called Vertical Wine Tasting. Here, the wine tastings are conducted by tasting just one variety of wine. For example, you will only concentrate on tasting the Chenin Blanc from the same producer. However, the wines will be in different vintages or years. So, you can taste the Chenin Blanc from one winery from the years 2000, 2002, and 2004. This will show your guests, how dramatic or subtle a wine can change from year to year.

 

Chenin Blanc is a versatile and intriguing white wine grape with a rich history and wide popularity. Did you know that it's originally from the Loire Valley in France? And it has now spread to various wine regions around the world, including South Africa, where it is also known as Steen. 

 

Our In-House Sommelier highly recommends the Safriel House Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2020, made in a new world style: rich, complex, aromatic with fruit and structure. Citrus, pear, peach and pineapple notes are evident in the aromatics of this wine.

 

 

 

3. Priceless Wine Tasting

 

 

 

 

 

Priceless Wine Tasting is another great theme for your wine tasting party. You have to remember that people normally assume that wines that are more expensive taste better than cheaper ones. Try testing your guests palate by withholding the price of the variety of wine you have available for tasting. By just tasting, your guests should determine which wine is worth 120 dollars and which one is worth 10 dollars, or maybe they won’t. We find this to be the most fun wine tasting theme.

 

Explore these wines as perfect picks for this thematic setting:

Flying Solo White 2021, $20.00 
Huber Sparkling Rose', $24.00 
Prosper Maufoux Bourgogne Pinot Noir AOC 2021, $41.00 
Zuccardi Piedra Infinita 2015, $150

 

4. Price Point Wine Tasting

 

 

 

 

 

The Price Point Wine Tasting theme allows for the featured wines to be within a similar price range. The goal here is to keep the wines comparable in a baseline price which is quite flexible for you to organize when it comes to buying the wine. This way you and your guests can determine which wines within the same price range taste the best.

 

Explore the selection:

Domaine Gayda En Passant Rouge 2021, $24.00 
Badenhorst Secateurs Red 2021, $24.00 
Capanna Rosso de Cerro 2020, $26
Chateau Musar Jeune Red 2020, $29

 

5. Big Eight Wine Tasting

 

 

 

 

 

Big Eight Wine Tasting is a great wine tasting theme in which your guests will taste their way through eight different kinds of wines and determine which one they prefer. This will also give your guests, particularly the ones that are not very "into” wines a new appreciation for the different kinds of wine.

 

In this wine theme, all you have to do is select one of each of the big eight wines, no matter the vintage (year) or location. The big eight wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, and Pinot Noir for red wines, and Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio for white wines.

 

6. Blind Wine Tasting

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, the Blind Wine Tasting theme can also be a fun option for your wine experience event. Just take any of the themes mentioned before, remove the labels from the bottles or put the bottles in wine bags and you have a Blind Wine Tasting Party that will surely be a lot of fun for your guests.

 

 The fact that your guests will not have any idea on what wine they taste, will make knowing what they choose definitely more interesting since they will not be influenced by the wine label, the region the wine comes from or the price of the wine.

 

These are the six wine tasting themes that will surely make your wine tasting party a success.

 

 

 

 

Now that we have given you six amazing wine tasting themes to choose from, it will be easy to make your wine event a successful one. Hosting a wine tasting party can be a bit difficult but do not worry, we will always be here to help you.

 

To get to know more about us, you can go to our website or you can read a bit more about our mission in this article by San Diego Magazine.

Make sure to grab your Food & Wine Pairings, too!