Dinner Parties

Dinner parties are great occasions to bring your favorite wine into the limelight. Although wine dinner parties tend to have the meal organized around the wine, pairing your wine with your favorite dishes can also make for a great party. Plan to move from lighter foods towards heavier foods. Remember to keep light wines with light foods and heavy wines with heavy foods in order to prevent one from overpowering the other. Different courses can work well with different wines. Take this into consideration when pairing bottles with your meal. One very good bottle of wine served throughout the meal is also an option, especially for smaller gatherings with close friends. Make sure to consider the glassware you have available for the party. However, if you aren't quite stocked up and would rather not wash dishes throughout your meal, consider using a technique often employed by professional wine tasters. Before pouring the next wine, pour a bit of it into the glass, swoosh it around, and then dump the contents. This works best when moving from white to red wines rather than the other way around.

To get the appetite ready for the big meal, it can be a good idea to serve aperitifs with salty nuts and other snacks. Good aperitifs to choose from can include Chardonnay, Mosel, and Fino sherry. When planning a dessert course and wine, especially if the meal has been particularly heavy, consider a light dessert wine such as a Riesling, Muscat, or vintage port. These will also help with the digestive process. For a decorative aspect to your party wine, consider a modern, elegant decanter. Younger wines benefit from the increased aeration involved in decanting while a decanted can help store left over wine.