Tasting wine can be a technically interesting, but also an exclusively fun activity, or something in between. But if the person who conducts the wine tasting is boring and limits him/herself exclusively to providing technical information without showing any lightness and/or passion, this activity can be an annoying, long-winded (especially for those who are experiencing a wine tasting for the first time) and uninspiring activity. For those who have plans to organize a wine tasting at home for family and/or friends but actually have no idea how to do it, below are some ideas to make it a fun happening;
Blind tests:
A nice idea is to taste the wines blind, and I mean really in total darkness or with a blindfold. The guests taste the wines without knowing in advance what has been served. So, completely unknown is the brand, the origin, the price and whether it is a white, rosé or red variant. Now you may think; "But then you can just make the bottles unrecognizable so that they can't see what's in them?" but that is something completely different. It may sound unbelievable, but if you have to judge something purely on the taste, without having seen it, you could be quite wrong ... you will be surprised how many people don't even find out whether they are tasting white, rosé or red wine!
Music tasting:
The name actually leaves little to be desired. This is about the combination of wine tasting and listening to music at the same time. I have already devoted an entire column to this in the past and the nice thing about this kind of tasting is to find out if it’s really true that a certain kind of wine, suits Louis Armstrong’s music better (or any other artist) than any other variant. Yet it is not all nonsense, music and wine can indeed influence the “wine experience”, just try it!
Casino tasting:
Bring out your roulette game and turn your living room into a casino. As with real roulette, each participant is given a number of chips to play with. The playing field is adapted in this game in areas showing the different denominaciones de origen (designations of origin), for example Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Málaga, etc. The player whose turn it is to taste a wine with his/her eyes closed, tries to guess what is in the glass, and then place the chips in the area of his/her choice. If the answer is correct, the bet is doubled and the next player continues. In order not to make it too difficult, it is advisable to put all available wines with the D.O.'s on the table in advance so that there is also some guessing possible. The winner is the one who has collected the most chips at the end of the game.
Topography tasting:
A variant of the casino tasting is the topography tasting. Get wines from different countries and put a world map on the table. Then do as described for the casino tasting.
For the more philosophical wine tasters amongst you;
Photo tasting:
The photo tasting is all about not describing the wine as we are used to, so for example; fruity, full, buttery, fresh sour, smells like wet dog (if the latter is the case, you better rinse it down the sink), but to evoke an image with the wine that is next. So you conjure up a photo in your mind, as it were, and try to describe it. You will be amazed at the diversity of interpretations among the participants.
Philosophy tasting:
This tasting is quite unusual, but it may bring some pleasant hours for the true philosophers’ “diehards”. The point here is to try to articulate how great philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Georg Hegel and Karl Marx, for example, would have viewed at a particular wine. And I mean not only the wine itself, but also the packaging (bottle, tetra Brik), the label, and the other visual aspects.
All in all, a whole range of possibilities to give your wine hobby an extra twist. And if you find it all too much hassle and you just want to relax on the couch and taste various wines at your leisure, you can still invite someone with knowledge to organize your home tasting. I provide Wine Tastings in the Chicago area. Just contact me for more info.
Roel Peters RP-Vinos USA
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