New Wine Tasting Group

I have started to gather some names of people that work with me and my wife for future wine tasting groups. I do NOT want to scare anyone off, so I want to hear recommendations for that first one or two parties. Should I only have four or six people at a time for a while or is that too many? Do I have two bottles of each type? I have no issues with coming up with themes. I also worry that I may need to have a few parties under my belt before breaking out spittoons and bags for blind tastings. I really want to make sure I am not the reason these people do not come back. If it is not their thing, that is fine, but I want it to be them and not me.

I planned on waiting until January because of the holidays.

Several threads on this idea - you may want to do a search.

Then you should decide what kind of tasting group you want. For example, I’m in a group where we taste 12 wines side by side blind. Everyone has 12 glasses and takes an hour or two to figure out the wine. You talk about anything except the wine, until everyone has rated each one. Everyone kicks in some money at the beginning of the year and one person organizes the tasting each time. It’s always on the same day of the month. That way you never have to deal with people who can’t make it, etc.

Been doing that for many years and most of the people are in the business or they’re college professors who are hyper-serious about learning all they can. I wanted to form a similar group closer to my home but didn’t have enough people in the business or with the same interest. People hated the idea and insisted that they had to have food, etc. So they formed a dinner and wine group.

Both are very much OK but I drink wine with dinner every day anyway so forming a group to drink wine with dinner wasn’t really all that important to me. It all depends on what you want to get out of the group and how many people share your vision. For more casual groups, you can each bring bottles. Those types of groups tend to peter out pretty fast unless there’s someone who’s really dedicated to keeping them going.

In the end, any kind of group can be fun. I tend to take an academic view of things sometimes so for me, learning and testing myself constantly is enjoyable. In that case, I don’t even have to like all the other people around! OTOH, it’s also great to get together with good friends and share wine. You can cook or do potluck or get take-out or go to a restaurant.

I’d gauge the interest of potential members first. Maybe just have people over to try some wine and talk to them about it. And keep in mind that you can get 10 or 12 people on a bottle fairly comfortably. For me, the ideal size is 8 to 12. But if you only have 3 dedicated souls, I’d go with that.

Good luck!

Generally, I’d keep it loose and let it evolve organically. People who start with great enthusiam will leave for reasons unrelated to the wines and people in the group. We lost some people I love along the way due to kids and work comittments. I see nothing wrong with at least 8-10 to start which will yield you 4-8 per tasting. If you want the perfect intimate group hold it to 8 or 10 tops. My group started right off with a btl person but everyone was from the boards and already serious about wine. You might want to set a minimum dollar range for btls brought unless you are open to someone bringing wine well below the average. The group I organize has well over 30 members but only 20 attend regularly. Then of that group there are smaller dinners organized too.

I agree with Craig, keep it loose and organic. I’ve had several wine groups over the years, but the one that has worked the best and lasted the longest, grew organically from my close circle of cycling buddies. Only two of us were wine “geeks” to start but each brought something interesting to the table, besides great friendship and company. One is an amateur chef, so he coordinates our dinners. One’s wife is an amateur pastry chef, so he brings dessert. One prints money so he tends to bring the MacDaddies. We name a theme but do not mind if it strays a bit, in fact, we laugh so hard about it almost always straying. We don’t get all geeky about tasting blind, trying to drink 4, 5, 6 or so wines side by side, or even taking notes (I do, on the side, with my iPhone note App, trying to avoid detection for fear of being razzed!).

I normally coordinate the order in which we pop the wines, and I normally serve the wines (me being the geekiest in the group), mostly because my biggest issue is serving temperature and decant time. If I wanna get anything right - over all other issues including the type of glass we use - it is serving temperature. We will chit chat about the wines, sometimes the discussions evolve, sometime we segue to talking about football, cycling, ladies, politics or planning our next guy’s trip.

We have no set rules on the number of bottles or even price. Some of us can afford more than others, so if we can, we are generous. Some of us bring 2-3 bottles of higher end wine, some will bring dessert and a decent wine, the chef might not bring anything as he did all the work. With no rules, somehow it always seems to work quite well. Part of that is because two of us in this group will always step it up a notch, and I’m good with that.

At the end of the day, I only want to be in a wine tasting group if I genuinely enjoy spending time with the people. My time is very limited and very valuable to me. A bottle of Haut Brion in a group that does not stimulate me will not lure me to the table. I’d rather be at home with a great $25 Chinon, quitely contemplating how incredibly good wine can be even at this modest price-point.

One area of potential contention will be the quality and therefore the cost of the wines to be consumed. Obviously the closer to agreement in this area the better. If everyone is bringing something in the $30-$50 range, it probably won’t be too long before that person who habitually brings the $10 supermarket wine will be resented.

Robert - we were in a tasting group for many years and this is what we did…

• Host picked the theme and purchased the wines (usually 8-10 bottles). There was a per person charge for the tasting to cover the cost of the wine. If there was excess money it went toward the holiday champagne party to help offset costs.

• The host was responsible for the food. We believe in food/wine pairing so when we hosted we offered lite bites along with the wines and a dinner buffet at the end of the evening. Others offered a cheese board followed by a buffet.

• We had a travelling set of wine glasses (the core group each contributed funds to purchase). If you go this route I would recommend a bowl shape that would be suitable across grapes (also take into consideration the swirl factor - don’t want to spill on someone’s carpet). Maybe something like Schott Zweisel Tritan (which are very durable and relatively inexpensive stems.)

• The host provided a handout on the wines - grapes, cases, pricing, etc.

• This group met monthly for over 15 years - sadly the group only meets 2-3 times a year now as many have moved away.

Good luck - please keep us posted on your progress.

John;

Been in different groups, in different towns that I have lived in. Typically 8-10 is as large as you want, but you’ll need to start larger and things will weed out.

We pick a theme, and everyone brings wine to the theme, with someone bringing a bubbly and a stickie for openers and ending.

We do food and wine in our themes. To many great wines need food and are better with a meal, imo. That, unfortunately, weeds some out participants fast, but that’s life. They can find their own group. Examples, I don’t have a kosher kitchen, I don’t make complete vegan/vegetarian meals, we put garlic and spices in our dishes. All those items, and more, drives certain people out of the group.

Is your group going to be mostly beginner drinkers or experienced? We are all seasoned, in my current group, and one of our rules, that we push, is the wines should be brought ready to drink. That means if they need to be decanted, decant them before you get there, or drop them off with the host so he can decant to your recommendations. All of us have experienced the shut down, wrapped up tight, tannic bomb. That’s not what we’re there for. Bring the wine decanted, hopefully fully opened so we can all enjoy the full flavors of the wine. If someone insists on popping and pouring such wines at the event, we generally tell them they’re in the wrong group.

My suggestion is to start out, feel the group out, and talk about how you want to develop, and then enjoy.

Everyone other than me and my wife will be as new as you can get.

That can be tough.
Depends what you are wanting.

I am wanting a good time with plenty of open conversation that may not have anything to do with win initially. I would really like it to evolve over time.

My advice: just throw a dinner party for eight of these friends and serve some nice wine that pairs well with the food. Start with white or champagne, progress to light bodied reds, then heavier and finish with a dessert wine or port. Relieve all of the newbies of the stress of picking the wine. You pick the wine. Share your passion with them. You introduce them to it. You show them how it pairs with food. I recommend you simply enjoy the social occasion. See who vibes to it. See who wants to do it again.

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I appreciate the advice. Good stuff. I will let you all know how it goes. Definitely in January after the holidays.

Good advice above. If you don’t have a group of people who are all dedicated to wine, just let it be really casual. You might also try going through Meetup or even a local wine store - put up a flyer or something. You never know. Best of luck.

Pay attention to how they each hold a wine glass and only invite the stem holders back.

Seriously, agree with above - have fun with it.
However, I would still have people bring wines…you may still learn a thing or two!
(you never know who is sitting on an inherited cellar of First Growths!)

We all want it to be about “win” in the end.

In the more casual sense I’ve been part of a group that meets up for apps and dinner at one participants home. Usually 5-6 couples. We casually drink a few bottles with apps/conversation and then have 8 or so bottles decanted on a table, decanters marked 1-8, with the 8 empty bottles alongside. We then taste through the lineup and try to match the bottle to the decanted wine. The winner (person with the most correct guesses) takes home a wine related prize. We mix dinner in somewhere along the way. Then cigars and port around the fire pit.

My group meets monthly at a restaurant that allows corkage. The people in the group are extremely knowledgable about wine, so being too geeky on wine selection is not an issue.

We generally set a theme every month and everyone brings a bottle on theme, plus some people bring a white to start or a sweet wine to finish. Sort of self selecting who brings a second bottle. I ofter bring my wife to the group (some of us do, some don’t, some do sometimes one, sometimes the other) and we often bring three wines for the two of us.

Our group tends to be Burg nuts and we probably do 2/3 to 3/4 of our tastings on Burgundies - usually with a village as a theme.

For as serious wine drinkers as the people are, we are also friends (at least now) and we don’t talk that much about wine. I think this is a key for a successful wine group. The people have to be friends or become friends and have to want to get together other than to drink wine.

So, I think two keys:

1. Get together with people you like.
2. Have wine tastings that are economically comfortable for everyone there. It won’t work if one person wants to pay $10 per bottle and another $100 per bottle.