Wine Party Theme Ideas
There are so many directions you can go with a wine party theme. I have hosted several wine and hors d’oevres parties, wine and dessert parties, wine tasting parties, and all of those wine party themes are fun. Today I’m going to suggest a party with a different twist. A wine party with wine games. This is a great party to invite couples to, and probably 16-20 guests would be perfect. This post also contains a great recipe for baked brie as an appetizer, and a free printable score card for one of the wine games.
I believe that wine is very much an acquired taste. In my experience, newer wine drinkers tend to start out liking white wine and then slowly move on to red. Back in my late teens, wine coolers were what everyone was drinking, because they are basically like a spiked soda, right? I remember going to some big graduation party when I was 16 or 17, with my friend, Lyn, and we shared a wine cooler. That was the extent of how wild I was at that age!
Anyway, eventually I, too, acquired a taste for wine. I was raised and continue to live near some of the biggest wine regions in the country, so going wine tasting was sort of a tradition when we turned 21. For the party I’m suggesting, some wine tasting will definitely be a part of our activities.
A few years ago, we bought a house that had a small vineyard on the property with some zinfandel grape vines and some barbera grape vines. The vineyard was in bad shape and had been neglected for some time, so we nursed them back to health and they look really good now. Last year, for the first time, we harvested the grapes, and my husband, oldest son and brother-in-law are trying their hands at wine making. The wine is still somewhere in the process of hanging out in the barrel, so I don’t know how our finished product will taste, but hopefully we can have a few bottles to give as Christmas presents this year. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll include a picture of some of our grapes that are still on the vine this year. I’ve always thought grape vines look so beautiful, so whether we make wine or not, I love having the rows of grape leaves and the beautiful fruit changing colors throughout the year.
Blind wine tasting
Materials needed:
Small, clear plastic cups (or wine glasses, if you have enough for all of your guests
Brown paper shopping bags
pens or pencils
Wine rating form
1. Have each couple bring a bottle of one of their favorite wines. When they arrive, take the bottle from them and assign it a number and then record what type of wine it is on a list (printable provided).
2. Cover the entire wine label with some paper. Brown paper bags cut into large, wide strips work well for this. Label the “wrapper” with the number assigned to that bottle.
3. Give each guest a wine rating form, a pen and a clear plastic cup with their name on it (or you can obviously use real wine glasses, if you have enough for each guest).
4. Set out one or two pitchers of water for the guests to rinse their glass between each tasting.
5. Have the guests go around to each wine bottle, taste the wine and fill out the form with their impressions of the wine and what type of wine they think it is.
Cocktail Pictionary
Materials needed:
Large pad of drawing paper or white board or chalk board
Marking pens or white board pens or chalk
1. Ahead of time, write the names of different cocktails on pieces of paper, fold the paper and put in a bowl
2. Break the group into 2 teams
3. Have the teams take turns trying to draw clues that will help their team guess the name of the drink
Wine Trivia
Materials needed:
- Pen and paper to keep score
- Your list that has trivia questions and answers on it
- Go online to gather bits of trivia/fun wine facts and write them into the form of a question. Take turns between the teams trying to guess the answers to the questions. You can have one person asking all the questions and have the two teams guess, taking turns as to which team goes first. If they didn’t get it right, the second team guesses. If the questions is something that involves number of bottles or how many gallons, etc, then the point goes to the team that is the closest to the right answer.
Examples:
- What type of French wine is typically made from Pinot Noir Grapes? Answer: Burgundy
- What is the most widely planted grape in the world? Answer: Cabernet Sauvignon
- How many grapes does it take to make a standard bottle of wine? Answer: About 200 grapes or 2.5 pounds of grapes (so the team that comes the closest would get this point).
For this game, I just googled “wine trivia” to get these questions. You should be able to find lots of ideas for questions on the internet.
Since you are serving wine, I would definitely make sure to have some food available. One of my favorite things to serve is a charcuterie board. You can make this spread on a large cutting board or larger platters. If you aren’t familiar with them, it’s basically an assortment of meats, cheeses and other little fruits and nuts served with crackers. Some suggestions are: a few each of hard and soft cheeses, sliced; salami and a few other deli meats, having single slices rolled up; a variety of olives; a variety of nuts; several types of jams and fruit spread; honey; a few types of mustard; some grapes, sliced melon, strawberries, raspberries. Another of my favorite appetizers is a baked wheel of brie, and I’m including the recipe for you below. For a group of over ten people, I would make two of these, because it’s going to be very popular.
Baked Brie with Brown Sugar Topping
his is a great appetizer to have for a dinner party or just a night in, with a glass of wine
Ingredients
- 1 Wheel of Brie Cheese
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 2 tbls whiskey or brandy
Notes
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Prepare a baking pan with PAM spray.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, nuts and whiskey; stir to combine.
- Place brie in the center of baking pan and bake for 5 minutes.
- Take brie out of the oven and spoon brown sugar topping all over the top and down the sides of the cheese.
- Bake for another 5 minutes, or until brie is melting.
- Serve with crackers or sourdough bread and sliced apples that have been coated lightly with lemon or lime juice.
Wine Charms for Favors
If you would like to have a party favor for your guests (and if you’ve read my other posts, you know that I love having them), wine charms are fun to give out. You can buy them online, and I will have some links for them. They are also really fun and easy to make. I had an engagement party with a wine theme a long time ago, and I made wine charms for the guests to use that evening and then to take home with them. You can find the materials to make them on Amazon, on Michael’s or any craft store. I still have some from that party, so shown here is a picture of some of the actual wine charms I made.
Wine charm links:
Here are a couple sets from Amazon, you can take a look at as examples.
The wine tasting theme party is fun and doesn’t take a lot of preparation. I’ve included a free printable to make it fun. You can go as casual or as fancy you want with a party like this.
If you enjoy wine, or even if you just have friends who do, this is a fun way to celebrate a birthday, engagement, anniversary, or just a Friday or Saturday night.
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Take care of yourself and celebrate your day! xoxo
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