Learn how to host a perfect wine tasting at home. Get expert tips on selecting wines, preparing glasses, and making it unforgettable for your friends.

So, you have friends who enjoy wine and a few bottles. Why not organize a wine tasting at home? I mean, your friends probably already peg you as the “wine expert”, right? But you get to thinking about it a little more, and you have questions. Which wines should I serve? Should I serve them in a particular order? What about glasses? Do I need specific ones? How many should I have? And what about food pairings?

Well, take a deep breath and relax. I’m here to help. In truth, organizing a wine tasting at home isn’t overly complicated. Let’s get into it!

The Basics

Previously on Regular Tuesday Wine, I covered how to taste wine, including the equipment you need and even a few tips. So, I won’t be going into a lot of detail here, but let’s cover the basics of hosting a wine tasting at home.

Other than wine, which I’ll cover later, you need the following:

• Wine glasses[i]. In an ideal world, you have one for each wine tasted. But if you’re hosting a tasting for five of your friends, and you have four wines, that’s 20 wine glasses for your friends alone. So, let’s come back to earth. One glass per head is fine.
• Something white to use as a background, so the tasters can appreciate the wine’s color better. A white tablecloth, or napkins, or even a white piece of paper are all fine.
• Pen and paper are good, though optional, things to have. Your friends might want to take notes on the wines they’re tasting.
• Water to cleanse the palate after each wine is always a welcome addition.
• A spit bucket is also a good optional idea; it’s unlikely that your friends will use it, but if y’all will be tasting a lot of wines, it might be a good idea to have one handy.

And now, let’s take a look at what kinds of wine tastings you can host at home.

Your Everyday Wine Tasting at Home

This one’s the simple one. Just pick some wines at whatever budget you agree with your friends and serve them. Start with lighter wines and work your way up to the boldest ones. Unfortunately, there are too many varietals and blends to list them all here, but I can hook you up with this list of a few of the most popular ones[ii].

For white wines, from light to full body: Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, Semillon, Viogner, Chardonnay.

And here are your reds: Pais, Pinot Noir, Garnacha, Carménère, Cabernet Franc, Chianti Classico, Rhône Blend, Merlot, Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, Malbec, Bordeaux Blend, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Tannat.

Even though some bold whites can feel heavier than the lightest reds, this is still a good rule of thumb to follow: start with sparkling, then white wines, then move on to orange wines, then rosé, then reds, then sweet wines, and end with fortified wines. I know. There are many wine styles.

Don’t pour a lot of wine in each glass to make sure you have some left in the bottle. It’s likely that your friends will want another go-around after all the wines have been tasted.

Now, let’s talk about other fun stuff you can do!

The Thematic Wine Tasting at Home

That’s right, pick a theme and stick with it! For instance, concentrate on wines from a single country or wine region. Organize your next wine tasting at home with only wines from Chile, or Italy. Or narrow your focus to wines from Colchagua or Napa. I mean, you can even do a single varietal tasting! A Chardonnay tasting, going from fresh Chablis to heavily oaked Chards from California could be a very interesting journey.

This type of wine tasting experience can be playful and fun. If your friends are into wine, they’ll probably be interested. And if they like it, you might be ready to move to the next type of tasting.

How To Organize Horizontal and Vertical Wine Tastings at Home

These two types of tastings might require a little footwork tracking down some bottles. But let’s first understand what each one of them means.

A horizontal wine tasting is when you pick wines from the same varietal and vintage, but from different brands. So, if you settle on Cabernet Franc from 2021, as long as they’re from different brands, you’re golden. This means that, unless previously decided against, bringing one bottle each from Chile, Argentina, New York, Italy, and Loire is fair game.

On the other hand, a vertical wine tasting is when you have the same wine brand, but from different vintages. So, pick your favorite Cabernet Sauvignon label and get whatever vintages you can get. Typically, you go backwards in time, so your friends can taste the evolution, but feel free to start with the oldest wines first if you feel the youngest ones are too strong and fear they might drown out the subtler flavors from the older vintages.

Your Blind Tasting at Home Guide

Now, blind tasting is a different monster. Here, any wine goes. But why would you even want to taste wines blind? I mean, other than for fun, right? Well, pros do it to identify the wines they’re drinking without knowing the label. They’ll examine the color, then try to pinpoint the varietal with their nose and palate. A deep ruby red with black fruit, vanilla, a little chocolate and earthy undertones? That might be Merlot.

Ok, but your friends are not pros and probably feel uncomfortable making guesses. So, are blind wine tastings at home right for you?

I will say yes, they are. You can surprise your friends with wines they don’t know or think they won’t like. Maybe they’ve never had Riesling or think they don’t like Merlot. This would be a great time to make them taste something without preconceptions. For all they know, those wines could be Pinot Grigio and Carménère[iii].

Also, it’s a fun time to sneak in weird varietals or styles, like orange wines, or GMS blends[iv]. Considering, of course, that those are unusual for your friends. A blind tasting can introduce everybody to, potentially, new favorites.

Oh, And One Last Thing

Prepping for a blind wine tasting at home requires a little bit more work. After you select your wines and decide the order in which to serve them, you cover them. They sell special bags for the purpose, but you can get by with thriftier solutions. All you gotta do is wrap the bottles with non-see-through paper[v], or stick them inside socks, which is my preferred method. Just make sure you use clean socks. Please. Lastly, make sure you mark the covered bottles to avoid mixing them up. You can use numbers or letters or whatever makes sense to you.

What Food Should You Offer When Organizing a Wine Tasting at Home?

This one’s easy. Whatever you like. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t worry about the proper food pairing for your wine. At least, don’t worry too much about it. What I’ll say is that I wouldn’t advise you eat during the tasting. You don’t want aromas near your nose or flavors in your mouth to confuse your senses. Bread or something identically neutral is best.

That said, if you want to keep things casual and your guests look hungry, forget all rules and have snacks on the table. Who knows, a new favorite pairing might be just around the corner if you decide to go experimental with your munchies!

The Last Drop

Organizing a wine tasting at home is not difficult, and if your friends are into the idea, they can be super fun. Make sure everybody’s picked a favorite by the end of the tasting and see if there’s enough consensus to have a best-in-show.

Oh, and a little advice for when you’re tasting and/or to give to your guests (unless they’re very experienced). Don’t concentrate on how many aromatic descriptors you find during the wine tasting. You can read here, that’s not how I do it. Keep it simple. At least at first. And don’t be intimidated if some of your friends seem to have a better nose than you. That comes with practice. Then again, you might not even want to get there. Concentrate on whether you find the aromas and flavor to your liking.

Have you organized wine tasting at home in the past? Or have you attended some? Let me know if you have something else to share! I’d love to read, and learn, how others do it!

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Footnotes

[i] If you don’t have wine glasses you can still use regular tumblers, but for best results, invest in some cheap wine-specific ones.

[ii] There are charts for wine boldness, and you can follow them if you have wine I haven’t mentioned. I always like the work from Wine Folly. Use this chart for whites and this other one for reds. However, don’t be afraid to mix it up and experiment. After all, rules are meant to be broken, right?

[iii] Carménère, incidentally, was confused with Merlot for over a century in Chile. I’ve written about this mishap here, if you want to read about it.

[iv] Typical blends from the Rhône region in southern France. GMS stands for the three varietals used in the wine: Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah.

[v] Newspaper would be my choice because it’s large enough to wrap the bottle.

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Cover Image: Your everyday wine tasting. Photo by Pavel Danilyuk.