Patty’s Blind Tasting Tips
Have you ever wanted to throw a blind tasting for a small group of friends, but haven’t been too sure about how to do it? Here are some tips to make your next tasting a success:
1. First of all, you need to think of whom you wish to invite. For your first blind tasting, you might want to keep the group fairly small. Once this is decided, you can send out invitations.
2. Select 3-6 wines to pour for blind tasting. You usually want to stay with a theme in the wines. For example, select only Pinot Noir from the same vintage. Otherwise, it makes it hard to compare the wines.
3. Taste the wines prior to guest’s arrival to check for corked or spoiled bottles.
4. Set out a placemat with circles marked A-F (depending on the amount of wines) for the number of guests you are expecting along with a glass for each wine.
5. Wrap each bottle in a brown paper bag and write the letter on the outside of the bag.
6. Before guests arrive, pour each wine in the designated glass on the placemat. (Example: pour wine A in the glass that is on top of circle A on the placemat.)
7. Next to the placemat, make sure you also give guests a rating sheet with a pen. (On my rate sheet, I personalized it, but you can just use blank paper if you don’t have time to create something customized.)
8. You might also want to put out small bowls of French bread.
9. If you want to use candles, make sure you buy unscented.
10. Have lots of inventive and colorful appetizers ready for guest’s arrival.
11. Start out the evening by welcoming guests with a glass of refreshing Sokol Blosser Pinot Gris.
12. Once guests have arrived, have them sit at the table and explain how the blind tasting works.
a. Guests should rate the wine. Just be sure they know that 1 is best, higher number is worse. Example: A is 1, meaning it is my favorite.
b. After everyone has tasted and rated the wines, total the ratings and announce the wines in order from least liked to most liked.
c. The fun part is when you unveil the bottles and announce the name and price. You’ll be surprised when the least expensive bottle makes it into the top ratings!
13. Option: After the blind tasting is over, throw in a fun wine quiz. True/ False or Multiple Choice tends to be better for all levels of wine drinkers. Open-ended questions tend to frustrate people.
14. By this time of the evening, guests have tasted a lot of wine. It is nice to offer up something hearty for dinner to absorb some of the alcohol. I like having a big soup or stew cooking in the crock-pot. It’s easy to make and easy for guests to serve themselves throughout the night. This also allows you more time to spend on your fun appetizers.
15. And, that is all you have to do to have a successful blind tasting! Good Luck!