tasting event

[SusanC]

I need assistance setting up a wine tasting evening. I work for a non-profit which will be having a national conference in the Sacramento area in next few months. We'd like to set up an evening of wine tasting for the attendees. Anyone have experience with this? Where do I start? Thank you!

[Innkeeper]

Hi Susan, and welcome to the Wine Board. The objective of such an event is to have fun, and stay sober. First of all you need food. Various finger foods including plain thin slices of baguette and or crackers for palate cleansing. You will also need buckets of some sort for people to pour wine they don't want to finish, and pitchers of water to wash out their glasses. Glasses should be on the small side, five or six ounces, with only two or three ounces poured at a time.

This gets us to the wine. Six kinds of wine are good for one wine tasting session. You will need three white wines and three red. It is best, but not essential to have each in three different weights or bodies. A good retailer could help you with this. An example would be for whites: A Muscadet, a Vermentino, and a Reisling Spatlese; and for reds: A Bardolino, a pinot noir, and a cabernet sauvignon. Pour them in that order starting with all the whites, and then the reds going from lightest to heaviest. An easier system is to buy any three different whites and three reds, and line them up according to the amounts of alcohol in each, again going from least amount to greatest amount. Get different kinds of wines, not three chardonnays and three cabernets.

Prepare a sheet for each participant with the name and description of each wine and room for note taking. Provide pencils.

[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 07-08-2002).]

[Auburnwine]

My suggestion: seek allies!

I am sure that there are people in the community who are experienced with such an event and can help you. Ask among retailers (or do a web search) to see if there are wine clubs or wine professionals who might aid with the task. They would have advice, experience, and access to the necessary supplies. And if you can find helping hands, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel.

[SusanC]

Thank you for the input. We are looking to have an organization or club come to do the tasting. We want to provide the attendees with an informative/educational experience in addition to the opportunity to taste great California wine.

My grandfather was a wine critic so I am going to contact the publication he wrote for and see if I can get some local leads through them as well.