Tips for hosting a blind tasting

[Chris_Seiber]

Oh, and you as the host should ALWAYS do the pouring yourself. There is no way to regulate how big pours people will make, you may run out of wines, people may get sloshed, and it’s just not a good idea unless you are really certain that your particular guests all know to make the proper pour sizes.

People outside the wine geek world don’t have any thought that you should pour 1.5 ounces of wine into the bottom of this giant wine glass. But it’s awkward trying to monitor and correct guests on that. Just pour it yourself (or designate an appropriate guest to do it).

[PaulMills]

About half of the guests are wine geeks. The other half are just there to be social. I actually watched a lady from the group at another tasting walk down the row of wines and sample each one. No swirl, no contemplation of nose or palate, just pour and drink. Others take their time, make notes, try to identify what they are tasting and smelling. With it being a mixed group, it is difficult or close to impossible to make everyone happy.

If this does not go over as wine tasting, but just a social event, It will be the last one we host and we will stick to just having over small groups. I am as social as the next guy but I just want this event to be more about the wine and that is how I have advertised it.

[Taylor_Broussard]

Also keep in mind that the more people there are, the harder it is for the group to focus. You can’t stop divergent conversations from occurring without being a totalitarian which is a quick way to ruin it. You have to strike a balance between the wine and everything else otherwise the non-wine geeks will totally check out after a while and de-rail things permanently.

My suggestion is that if you’re doing the pours, that you take a moment when all glasses are empty to discuss the wine (take a few minutes). Then, while you’re pouring the next wine, you take an opportunity to talk about it and tell the story (if non-blind) or steer the discussion into a quick reaction of what it might be (if blind). This will give you an element of control, without being pushy. Anything that happens in-between you pouring is going to be outside your control. Don’t attempt to regulate it unless you want to become the villain of the night.

Also, don’t plan on pouring anything really special for large events. You can hold it in reserve if things are going well, but if it turns into a cocktail party don’t be afraid to set it back in the cellar and save it for a more intimate gathering.

One other note, blind tastings are tough for non-wine geeks because their palate may not be able to identify well enough to hold their attention. It may be better off if there’s a “narrative” for you to tell about the wine. (The region, the varietal, the producer, etc). This is probably more meaningful and relate-able to them than an anonymous red liquid in their glass.

[Scott_Butler]

@PaulMills

We are hosting a tasting a our house this weekend and are trying to determine pour size. I say 2oz but my wife says 1oz. Here and other places I have checked online say 1.5 to 2 oz. We will have heavy hors d’oeuvres but she is concerned about people having too much to drink. Six wines at 2 oz each would be 2.4 glasses per person. With food and over the three hours people will be there, I do not think it as big of an issue. We will have 20 people which means with 1oz serving we only need one bottle of each but with 1.5 oz servings we will need two.

Part of the concern is that at other tastings with this group there have been 15-20 bottles of wine with about 30 people. Frequently it has become more about the socializing than really tasting the wine so people drink more. we want to make it about the wine. Plus, if you try to taste them all (which some people do) you could get drunk even doing 1 oz pours. We want to avoid that.

Since I am attending, I’ll chime in.

I don’t think 2 oz pours are too much. With regular wine drinkers over 3 hours with food, 2.4 glasses should be no problem at all IMO.

Northampton Wines has their monthly wine tastings, and we attended those a few times. They poured 1 oz pours, and if you went through the lineup and wanted to go back to re-taste one, there was nothing left to re-taste. Seemed like too little.

If you do 2 oz pours, I promise not to vomit on your living room rug.

[PaulMills]

I bought the remaining wine tonight and went with two bottles of each. I convinced my wife that 2oz was the minimum otherwise people would make fun of us.

No worries Scott, we have hardwood floors.

[R_Gaston]

Look forward to the tasting notes!

[David_Glasser]

@PaulMills

About half of the guests are wine geeks. The other half are just there to be social. I actually watched a lady from the group at another tasting walk down the row of wines and sample each one. No swirl, no contemplation of nose or palate, just pour and drink. Others take their time, make notes, try to identify what they are tasting and smelling. With it being a mixed group, it is difficult or close to impossible to make everyone happy.

If this does not go over as wine tasting, but just a social event, It will be the last one we host and we will stick to just having over small groups. I am as social as the next guy but I just want this event to be more about the wine and that is how I have advertised it.

I once tried to do a structured tasting for a group like this many years ago. It became clear shortly into it that some of the guests who were “just there to be social” were just not feeling it. Even though it was billed as a wine tasting, it wasn’t what they expected. They had no way to really know, never having been to one. One or two were interested but to the others it was a bore, or worse. Fortunately, my wine geek friends were understanding and flexible when we decided to abandon the structure and just make it a cocktail party with some nice wines.

Lessons learned: tastings for wine geeks and budding wine geeks. Non-tasting parties open to all. And include interesting wines in the non-tasting parties. That’s how you identify the budding geeks.

[Anton_D]

@Oliver McCrum

Is that a troll avatar, Anton?

Meant to be a leprechaun for this week, but the post was definitely a partial troll!

Spitting is an abomination to me.

I’m waiting for it to catch on with foodies. I wonder what’s keeping them?

Spitting is wine bulimia, without even having to swallow first. Spitting is going to Nordstrom’s and trying to smell 30 kinds of perfume in a sitting.

I think the nasopharyngeal reflex associated with swallowing is a true part of the tasting process. (Said in good humor, not as a desire to fight.)

[Gerhard_P]

@Anton D

@Oliver McCrum

Is that a troll avatar, Anton?

Meant to be a leprechaun for this week, but the post was definitely a partial troll!

Spitting is an abomination to me.

I’m waiting for it to catch on with foodies. I wonder what’s keeping them?

Spitting is wine bulimia, without even having to swallow first. Spitting is going to Nordstrom’s and trying to smell 30 kinds of perfume in a sitting.

I think the nasopharyngeal reflex associated with swallowing is a true part of the tasting process. (Said in good humor, not as a desire to fight.)

Anton,

if you definitely refuse to spit, you won´t ever be able to taste more than 10, 12, 15 wines on one day - or you will be completely drunk in short term (which means that you are not able to assess the later wines correctly).

For instance in Burgundy when tasting from barrel it is expected that you spit one or two sips, and pull the rest (from the glass) back into the barrel, especially if it´s a wine where only one or two barrel exist.

If you have 4, 5, 6 visits a day, with 8, 10, up to 18 different wines each - and you don´t spit … you´ll definitely need a non-drinking driver … and a translater in addition as you won´t be able to pronounce “bonjour” correctly , not to speak of "is this the Chambolle-Musigny Village or “Les Amoureuses?”

In short: one has to distinguish between a social meeting … with dinner and wines … and a definite wine-tasting where the topic is to get to know different wines.
I do both - and usually won´t spit in the first case, and will in the 2nd - and I stand to my point: there is no real difference in smell and taste between the two, only in the final effect

But no problem - to each his own …

[Anton_D]

“If you have 4, 5, 6 visits a day, with 8, 10, up to 18 different wines each…”

Yikes!

If there is work to be done, then your view is obviously superior to mine in order to keep one’s wits!

Heck, I wouldn’t trust my impressions of 32 to 108 wines in a day, even if I spit.

I see your point about spitting for doing a big and fast wine survey, for sure. But, for me, sometimes the first taste doesn’t even offer the final impression I will have of a wine. I just couldn’t taste blast like that.

A big tasting day for me is typically 2-3 places in a day, with a lunch in between and often with some delectable nibble along with the tastes.

You can call me the wine tortoise!