The biggest part of hosting a wine tasting dinner is the food.  Not only do you want your guests to enjoy how food and wine accompany each other, you also want to keep your guests from getting completely sloshed.  In a previous post I discuss how to select the wine flight. Now I am going to help you create the menu. This is not as difficult as you may think. Since your guests will be providing the wine, you are not going to be able to make a perfect pairing.  You just need to be able to make a educated guess. Trust me when I say once everyone is together having fun and drinking wine, they are not going to care. If they are a judgmental snob, don’t invite them to the next tasting. Or any party, you don’t need that in your life.

Creating the pairing menu

When looking for a recipe I create small plates or heavy appetizers to go with each wine.  It helps to separate each wine you taste in the flight, and you don’t have to worry about anybody getting too full too quickly. 

My guests always arrive to champagne with fruit and cheese.  (I love love love champagne, so any excuse to pop a bottle, I do.)  Everyone is excited to start tasting and eating and this pacifies the guest while you wait for those late arriving friends to attend .  We all have at least one of those friends who is beyond “casually late” (You know who they are) . I also usually give everyone a time that we will start eating and my friends who always come late are usually assigned the last wine of the night. They can catch up when they arrive.  

Then we sit down around the table and start the actual tasting. I usually begin with a white wine and make a simple cold shrimp or seafood appetizer.  Since you are going to be making 6 or 7 different courses you don’t want them all to be hot because you will find it really hard to serve everything at the proper temperature.  Plus you can have this plated and ready to serve.

After that we usually switch to red at our tastings, but it is up to you what types of wines you want at your tasting.  Next pairing I usually have a soup, a protein, and a pasta appetizer. The order is going to depend on the wine you are serving. Just like you want your bolder heavier wines at the end you are also going to want to do that with the food. You can end with a dessert paired with a dessert wine.   You can also reference my post of food pairing recipes for additional ideas on what to serve.

Guest Dietary Concerns

First I have to go through the list and see what dietary considerations I may have to make.  As the host definitely keep this in mind, but don’t let it hijack the menu. We have several friends that are vegetarian and a couple that have gluten allergies so I like to make sure that they have an alternative option for each course. I can usually make modifications to any of the appetizers I am already making and work around those issues.  I know you think I am crazy at this point, but it’s really not that hard to accommodate different diets.

For example if I am serving bruschetta on a crostini, I just put it on a corn chip for my gluten free friends.  It may not look as eloquent, but they definitely appreciate the thought you put into the meal. I usually barbeque a bunch of different vegetables and if a course is primarily a protein they can munch on veggies. 

Setting the Party Scene

We usually do our tasting in the summer and enjoy the warm evenings. I set up one or two tables.   I also purchase small plastic or bamboo plates for everyone to eat from.  This helps with clean up afterwards. (Avoid using regular paper plates because they don’t always last 6-7 courses) I bring everything out family style and have everyone grab their portion from the serving platter.  We also do the same thing with the wine. I love the community aspect to the tasting and it makes it more laid back.

My Golden Rule

Don’t host a party if you are not going to have fun!!!  It makes me uncomfortable when I go to someone’s house, and they spend the whole night cooking and washing dishes.  Then I feel obligated to help. Guests come to your house to spend time with you. Have as many things prepared before your guests arrive, so you can enjoy tasting and socialize with your friends.  I use a crock pot and warming plates and if we are doing it outside we also utilize the barbeque for at least one course. Just remember that this is supposed to be fun! Don’t worry about food fails, they make great conversation and after a few glasses of wine nobody cares.