Describe to me the ideal "wine" party!

05/06

I am planning to have a house warming party (no gifts) with a wine theme. I would like to have various wines, fruits, and heavy appetizers. Please help me plan! What are your suggestions as far as food, decor, etc.

TIA

Lil'BlackDress

Cheese!!! and lots of it!!!  We had one with some girlfriends where we labeled the cheese according to the wines (Brie - Try me with ice wine or a Riesling, Swiss-I'm good with Pinot Noir...)

and make sure you have something with bread! (cheese fondou with bread to dip or some kind of puff pastry app) just something that will absorb the alcohol.

Have water bottles present and handy too for near the end of the night:)

Maybe get wine glass charms for every ones glasses (you could even have them keep there's at the end of the night)

 

 

05/06

I love your ideas, thank you so much!

carrie4g

My personal favorite is blue cheese with a side of honey and fresh baguette. Yum!

Some meatballs would be good for the guys too but lots of appetizers.

You could also do a game and reward the winner with a bottle of wine.

Laurentian

For our housewarming party, I did a wine tasting and for activities, I did a Name the House Vote which was fun and also did a history of our town/home..etc 

For apps, I did stuffed mushrooms, mozz and tomatoes on italian bread with balsamic, variety of cheese with apple slices and honey.

I made invites using purple cardstock and little stickers of wine bottles which I got from acmoore..

For the actual tasting, we all stood around the kitchen island and tasted 3 wines, described them, and tried to figure out what each one was meant to taste like.  It was pretty funny when noone picked OAK, for example, and instead said other random scents/tastes. We had lots of laughs.

 

cwmoss82

I did one at a bachelorette party (we rented a cabin in the woods and just had a girls weekend) and it was a lot of fun!  I ordered these chalk board labels off etsy and bought some wine glasses at the dollar store.  Now I have a set of 12 and we use them at all our parties.  Guests just write their name on the label with chalk (or you could get some cute chalk markers). 

I like to  do a big cheese board with 4 or 5 types of cheese... I think labels for the cheese with wine suggestions like pp mentioned are a great idea!  I have two slate cutting boards I use for cheese so I can write with chalk on them like this.  My large one is from World Market but I couldn't find it on their site.  I usually put out nuts and dried fruit and bread with olive oil and seasonings, and even some salami as a more hearty appetizer to eat with the bread, cheese, crackers etc. 

CKinLA

http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/entertaining/everyday-celebrations/host-wine-tasting-party-10000001667630/index.html

 Real Simple has some great guides for pairing wines and cheeses, and having a wine tasting party. It might be a good starting point! I like to put out cheese, breadsticks, and skewers of mozzarella balls, tomatoes and olives. The heartier the better when it comes to wine. Flatbreads are a fun option too? endless possibilities for toppings!

leighanneh

I think about cheese and olives and bruchetta and olive oil.

To decorate, you can use dripping candles in old bottles, fill a hurricane vase with a candle and surround it with corks, even just place grapes on platters.

Whirlgirl01

I'd add some chocolate.  Some nice dark truffles or something like that.

SMG&AMF

My roommates and I had one years ago and it was a huge success. We had about 38 people come to the party. We bought 40 wine glasses from Ikea and 40 different ribbons. We cut each ribbon in half and tied one half of the ribbon into a bow around the stem of the wine glass. Then we made the other half of the ribbon into a bow and attached it to a safety pin. When people arrived at the party they picked a safety-pinned ribbon to wear and then found their matching wineglass - that way they always knew which wine glass was theirs.

Me and My Luv

I would include different selections of cheeses, salami and/or pepperoni, also definitely include apples.  Maybe some assorted mini quiches and pigs in a blanket (you can get them in BJs/Costco).  Also, how about the wine charms so everyone knows which glass is theirs, maybe colored toothpicks or appetizer picks.  Sounds like fun.