Do you ever wonder where they come up with those shi shi wine descriptions you see on the back of wine bottles? Are you really tasting the hints of peach and tropical fruit when you drink that wine? My friend Cheryl and I decided to host a wine tasting to put those label descriptions (and our friends) to the test!
Here’s the basic premise: We covered the labels of five white and five red wines and wrote their label descriptions down (Hint: When you’re covering the bottles make sure to cover up any references of the wine maker by hiding the corks and taping over bottle necks with names on them). We had our friends sample all the wines and match the label description to the bottle. Let me tell you, it’s a LOT tougher than you’d think! Many of the wines had the same flavor descriptions! Can you taste the black cherry undertones in three red wines?! We figured there might be a lot of people who matched the wines correctly so as a tie breaker, we also asked them to identify the type of wine as well: Malbec, merlot, zinfandel, etc. We then scored up the cards and awarded each category (red & white) winner with a $25 gift card to our local wine shop.
We had a blast! It was a great way to catch up with friends and laugh at the flowery wine label descriptions. Of course we had delicious food on hand – the menu for our wine tasting included lots of crowd pleasers:
- Crudités and pita chips with hummus and white bean dip
- Prosciutto & fig crostini
- Brie, pear & toasted walnut crostini
- Strawberry, manchego, and prosciutto crostini
- Caprese kabobs
- Grapes with goat cheese & pecans aka “grapes with nutty balls”
- Fruit flavored rainbow meringues
We had tons of wine glasses with labels so everyone would know which glass belonged to them after a their “tasting”
Our friends worked really hard and put a lot of serious effort into this event. It’s a TOUGH job, but somebody’s got to do it!
And then when we finally scored the cards and realized most people got nearly every wine WRONG they tore off the labels to see the correct answers!
Meredith was our big winner – she was the only person to match 5 for 5 in one category! WOW! She was the clear winner in BOTH categories!
Of course she paid the price by trying every wine at least twice! What a trooper. We’ll have to make sure we don’t invite this ringer to the party again 
If you want to try this with your friends, just grab the Wine Tasting Cards and your favorite bottles of wine. We had a great time!
–Martta
Meredith looks so familiar….small wine world….did this tasting take place somewhere near Austin TX? If so, I’d like to invite everyone to a monthly blind wine tasting group, I’m sure y’all are gonna have as much fun, meet other folks interested in the same topic, and of course, hone and train your senses a bit more. Contact me for details should anyone be interested. Thanks – cheers!
Reblogged this on by Kim Hill and commented:
This is fantastic! Thanks HMH!
I’m hosting a blind wine tasting party soon and am in need of some help! I’ve never done this before!!!
))
Where did you get the wine labels?
What 10 wines did you buy?
Where did you get the wine descriptions?
Hi Sierra, I actually just printed the wine labels and home. You can pick any 10 wines you like. Some have descriptions on the bottle and some you can Google and find a description. Have fun at your party!