Wine Themed Party: Blind Wine Tasting

For the wine themed party we naturally had to have lots of wine with a wine tasting.  With any wine tasting you have several questions to ask yourself the most important being: is the wine the main event or is it just there to aid in fun and conversation?  For this party it was decided that we wanted it to be an added bonus rather than the focus.  When having a wine tasting you need to make sure you have enough bottles for everyone to have a taste of each wine.  Also in arranging the wine you start with the lightest wine and gradually get darker.  Extras that you must have on hand are something to clear your pallet in between wines, we chose pretzels.  Also you need water to swish in your glass to rinse out the old wine and a bucket to dump the extras in.  To put a fun twist on it we decided to have a blind wine tasting.  This means that all the wines are covered and we have to guess what type each one is by taste! The materials needed are:

• Wine (enough for each guest to have a taste)
• Wine list
• 1 yard of fabric and sewing supplies
• Twine, string, or ribbon
• 6 thin circles from Michaels
• Black marker
• Chalkboard paint
• Chalk  

So here is how we did it.  I first purchased some linen fabric to cover the bottles with.  I just estimated how many I would need for 6.     

Next I estimated the size of the little sack I was going to put around the wine but measuring it around one of my bottles.  You want to make sure you account for a seam as well as leaving extras at the top to turn the sack under.       

Then just stitch each side of the wine coozie with the bottom folded.  Leave the top open and unhemmed.  Make one for each bottle.  One yard was enough for 6 for mine. 

You are done with your sacks….for now.  Next we turn our focus to how we are going to number each wine.  I considered iron on numbers, but they were to big.  As luck would have it Michaels sells these thin wood circles for like $0.29 each.  They are in the section with all the wooden shapes.  Purchase the same number of circles as you have bottles of wine.      

Drill a small hole in the top of each circle.        

Color the backs of the circles black.  I used a painty marker I had on hand and it worked fabulous!  I started out with a sharpie but the wood absorbed so much of the marker it took a lot of coats so I switched.           

Coat the fronts of the circles with 5-6 light coats of chalkboard pain.  I. Love. Chalkboard. Paint.  Enough said.  Then write the numbers of your wine on each circle. 

Then choose your wines.  We threw a Boone’s Farm in there for a good time.  Cough syrup taste?  Check and check.  If you don’t know what Boone’s Farm is you probably weren’t poor in high school.     

Then make a nice wine list so as you go along everyone can guess.  You can either make a score card or verbally shout out your guesses as we did.  Of course the wine order should be different than the list order.         

Turn your wine cozies right side out and fold the tops down inward.  Secure with a piece of twine, rope, or ribbon.  And of course enjoy all the delicious wine!  Cheers!