Themes for Wine Tasting Parties
Suggested Themes for Tastings of Wines from Different Regions
Rhône Valley WinesSouth African Wines
Rhône Valley Wines
We are particularly drawn to wines from the Rhône Valley of Provence, just a short distance away from our home-away-from-home in Lourmarin. (For more information on the area, see our website, www.RentOurHomeInProvence.com.)
Red wines are the stars of the Rhône Valley, although whites and rosés are also produced. So, if you would like to serve all three colors of wine at your tasting party, this theme would work nicely. Ranging from the very famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south to the prestigious Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage in the north and a lot of Côtes-du-Rhône and other personal favorites in between, there is much to choose from here. As difficult as it may be, we encourage you to limit your tasting to around six different wines.
Including food as part of your tasting would be a very interesting addition. The reds from this area lend themselves well to highlighting how different the wines will taste when served alone versus when they are paired with food. Don't forget the dessert as there is also a nice wine to go with that course--Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise.
For your tasting party, make sure to get a good map of the wine regions of France. You want your guests to be able to see that the Rhône is divided into the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône, and, during the tasting, they will see that each has produced distinctly different wines. It would also be interesting for your guests to know what grapes are used in each area. For example, the only grape used for red wines made in the north is Syrah and, in the south where the red wine is a blend of several varieties, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah are the principal grapes.
If your tasting takes place in the summer months, begin with a chilled rosé from Tavel in the southern part of the Rhône Valley--if available in your area. Made from both red and white grapes, it is a dry rosé (with a high alcohol content) that will turn heads unlike the pretty pink stuff so readily available in the U.S. If your party falls in the winter, open with the Viognier and then move to the Rhone reds, a perfect combination to ward off the chill of the weather.
Next come the white wines in which case we would recommend one of our favorite varietal whites, Viognier, available from both the north and the south parts of the Rhône. A pricey, but fabulous white wine from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, made entirely from Roussanne grapes, is produced by Château Beaucastel.
For red wines, some of our favorites happen to be fairly reasonably priced and available. They are from Gigondas and its neighboring village, Vacqueyras, both in the southern Rhône. Both appellations blend mostly Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsaut, but Gigondas wines have more Grenache and Vacqueyras wines favor Syrah. Other differences stem from terrior and style preferences. Both appellations produce robust, bold, rustic reds, teeming with flavors of berries, spice, pepper, wild herbs; but, they are also distinctly different. See if you can put the differences into words.
When in the Rhône Valley, it is difficult to leave without including a red from the northern half where the reds are as famous as le mistral that howls as it blows across the vineyards in the Rhône River Valley. Review your budget for the party, before asking your local wine merchant to make some recommendations.
We recommend that you round off your tasting with a bottle or two from the less prestigious Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages and Côtes-du-Rhône appellations. The quality of these wines varies widely. We recommend that you consult your friendly wine merchant for recommendations.
If you want to add the interesting dimension of food to your tasting, a particularly fun way to do it is to have stations set up in which the guests first taste and rate the wines without food and then go to other stations--or the table for a sit-down meal--where they have the opportunity to taste the wines again with food.
What to serve? For the Tavel rosé and the Viognier, consider a chicken pâté , smoked salmon pâté, shrimp with a mildly spiced salsa, or just some almonds. In addition, for the Viognier although it really does stand up well on its own, consider Mel's country pâté. For perfect complements to the Rhône wines (at which point you may wish to sit down), go for a hearty beef stew like a French daube, a meat loaf, roasted chicken, or a pizza. For dessert, the Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise goes best with fruit, light pastries or, perhaps, a simple fruit tart. (See our recipes section.)
If you discover that the Rhône wines really speak to you, explore the Rhône-style wines of California. Started by a small group of renegade winemakers in the mid-1980s, these are wines made with Rhône grape varieties in the style of the Rhône wines. The Rhône Rangers, as this group came to be called, has grown to nearly 200 member vineyards, producing some impressive wines. (See their website at www.rhonerangers.org.) A fun tasting would be comparing the Rangers to the real McCoy.
South African Wines
South African Wines were the subject of a recent tasting we held to benefit the Seacoast African American Cultural Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where we live. It was very successful in every realm, from raising the community's awareness of the organization and generating funds for the group to learning about wines from this country and having a great time.
A tasting of South African wines is appealing to many people for the simple reason that they typically don't know a lot about wines from the southern tip of Africa, in spite of the fact that it is the seventh largest wine producer in the world. Although South Africa has been making wine for over three hundred years, its foray into the American wine scene is relatively late; trade sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the international community for that country's notorious apartheid policies kept their wines off American tables until the 1990s. Its emphasis on quality wines rather than sheer quantity surfaced around the same time and since the mid-1990s, South African wines have gradually carved out a place in the wine world.
White wines comprise the majority of South African wine production, especially Chenin Blanc, known locally as Steen. Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay plantings are increasing and those wines are increasingly impressive. Among red wines, Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style blends of Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot capture the most attention. Cinsaut, a French Rhone Valley grape that was locally called hermitage, is also widely grown and often blended with other grapes. It was genetically crossed with Pinot Noir in 1925, resulting in Pinotage which may well become South Africa's signature red wine. Its chief rival is Syrah, know as Shiraz in South Africa, which is increasingly popular.
For our wine tasting party, we went with a "Discover the Wines of South Africa" theme and had a representa- tive sampling of South African wines. When guests arrived, they received a wine glass, A Primer of Wine Tasting (with the six Wine Tasting Rings), information about South Africa and its wines, and a program detailing how the evening would work. Because of the large size of our party, we had three wine tasting stations, each with two different wines to taste: a Chenin Blanc and a Sauvignon Blanc at one station; a Chardonnay and a Merlot at another; and a Shiraz/Pinotage blend and Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend.
The conversation buzz that evening was that there were indeed many discoveries: some people were surprised at the diversity of varietals available, many people had not heard of Pinotage or Steen, many people were wondering why they had not been drinking South African wines before the tasting, many people were surprised at how inexpensive the wines were for what they were, and others learned that price does not always dictate preference.
Your regional theme can be as narrow or as wide as you would like it--wines from tiny Napa Valley to those from Italy. It's up to you and the world is your limit!