My First Wine Tasting in the Books!

On Friday, I hosted my very first wine tasting. Now, I know a little bit about wine and I'm in a wine club that meets every other month, so this wasn't a total first time thing, but I've never actually HOSTED one before. The theme was California Dreaming. :) (It took place at my mom's house since she's more centrally located to everyone else than I am.)

We went through some of the major appellations or AVAs in California and sampled some of the red wines (always!!) from the dominant grapes in that area.

I created/printed a little sheet that had the silhouette of California with the appellations/AVAs noted and the region or area where that winery is located. The back had a spot for notes for each wine. 

The blue and purple bottles are water and the bowls are for dumping extra wine in the glasses. (traditionally at tastings you may take one or two sips and then you discard the rest)

Ah the food! I set up a number of appetizers and bites that go well with the wines we tasted. Of course, you can't have a wine tasting without a cheese plate! Brie, gouda, cheddar, colby jack and havarti. I used my new condiment tray thing and served some roasted almonds, dried apricots and red grapes. I also added olives...since some people apparently like the green ones out of a jar. Yuck! My chips and dip bowl becomes a veggie-and-hummus bowl and it worked out just perfectly! I also wanted to have a few prepared things for guests so I made my go-to fancy app Caprese Bites and bought a few different kinds of pinwheel sandwiches. 

If you're into wine, this might interest you. The overall favorite of the night was this Line Shack Petite Sirah from Paso Robles (San Antonio Valley) on the Central Coast of California. I used an app on my phone called Vivino to track the wine reviews and to also keep track of some of my favorites. 

The second favorite was this Petite Petit from Michael David Winery. This one originates in the Lodi appellation of California.  It definitely gets my vote for the coolest wine label!! 

For each guest, I had a wine glass customized by my sister-in-law (who has a decal/vinyl monogram business) as a parting gift. They turned out great! The name is Oddfellows Wine Club.

I had a lot of fun. It was a bit expensive but so much fun to plan and throw. I can't wait to do another one! 

Remember to join me tomorrow for Thursday Thoughts blog post linkup!