While it would be educational for the person picking a theme and buying all of the wines…the rest of the group misses out…it isn’t nearly the same…it can’t be…you’re not invested you’re just trying the wines…
Kevin - I don’t agree with this. There are many reasons a single person may want to buy the wines rather than have them come from all over. For example, the wines might be in his cellar, he may be closer to a source than other people are, he may have more time available, etc.
For many years I was in a group that did it exactly that way. Everyone had a say in what we were going to taste and everyone took turns selecting the wines. They might assign this or that person to pick up or bring a wine, but it was far more efficient than having everyone bring a bottle. And because some people had access to wines others didn’t have, we were able to leverage that as well and the people with less discretionary income were able to benefit from the fact that most of the people were in the business and could obtain bottles at wholesale prices, from travel to Europe, or even complimentary bottles.
The food is the least important issue to me. If you’re having a tasting group, just get some bread and cheese. If it’s a dinner group, that’s a whole other level of complexity. More work and a different experience because it’s hard to have a lot of glasses in front of you when you have aromas and flavors and plates in the way. Both are fun, but the goals are different.
We have an L.A. group composed of four couples who all met here in the wine boards many moons ago. We are all pretty serious about food and wine so that helps. Our format is a four course dinner where each couple brings a course, cooked on-site or st least finished, and pairs two wines with their course. We do appetizer (usually a duo) course, first course, main course, dessert. The dish and the wine are at the decision of each couple.
We rotate hosting homes. When you are main course you host and usually do a greeter wine to get rolling. The dinners are each quarter. We start bantering about dates that work for all as soon as one dinner completes for the next. So in order to keep the group, it can end up being a couple of weeks off from exactly three months. I think we have done it about 16 times and so far no one hasn’t had to miss.
In relation to your group, or any group, it seems like if you want to keep the regulars you need to discuss dates more than a month out and firm it at least a few weeks out. I think it’s straining to have someone pay for something that they can’t attend, unless they are a last minute cancellation. If someone does cancel close to the event then maybe they should kick in so as to not burden everyone else. Otherwise with advance notice, the remaining couples,can either pay a bit extra, or have a substitute couple join in.
I can see the benefit of a group-decided theme, but it’s just different. Assuming that the wine quality/experience is relatively similar from host to to host, I see little problem with the way it is originally described. Getting group-think on wine selections is indeed involvement, but part of the point is that it’s work and not as easy as having a host. The wine experience shouldn’t be much different, especially if maybe the wines get announced at least a couple of days in advance.