The more casual the party, the more you’ll enjoy it, and the more likely you are to have another, and that’s a good thing. So let’s say you’d like to have some friends over to enjoy some wine with you, but there’s no time to prepare a five-course meal. No problem.

Get some pies from the local pizzeria, or order takeout Chinese or Thai. Make the food the theme of the wine tasting. With pizza, buy an array of simple Chianti wines; with Chinese, make it Riesling. Put all the wines out in numbered paper bags, so no one can see the labels, and have people vote on their favorite. That way, you’ll not only eat and drink well, but you’ll casually have done some good wine study, too.

A food-and-wine party doesn’t need to be fancy. It can be as simple as some wine and some cheese, or dry sausages and bread. Give it extra interest by creating a theme— buy an array of American farmhouse cheeses, for example, and a selection of American wines to match. Or make it Spanish wine and Spanish cheese, or Italian cold cuts and red wines. Not only will it narrow the choices, making it easier to make your selections, but pairing wine with the foods that it grew up around greatly ups the chances that the two will go together well.

Maybe it sounds cheap, but it also sounds like a lot of fun. Pick a theme, any theme, and a price range, like $1 to $10, and ask everyone to bring a bottle. The theme could be the starring dish: say, a deep pan of lasagna. Or it could be a variety, like Merlot. Or it could be the movie you’re going to watch that night—anything from sultry wines with which to match a showing of Casablanca to wines that would pair well with buttered popcorn. (I mean it—there are some Chardonnays that go well with buttered popcorn.)

In order to keep competition down, you might want to paper-bag these wines, too. I know of some people who do this regularly, and award prizes (silly stuff, always) to the person who brings the most popular bottle. There’s always one bottle that goes faster than the others.

This is also a terrific way to learn about lots of wines at once: With 10 different Merlots, there are bound to be some clunkers. The few that are great you can add to your shopping list; the rest you never have to wonder about again.

Uncategorized casual parties, casual wine parties, wine parties, wine party

I’ve served good wine out of coffee cups, so don’t look to me for any lectures about how each wine deserves the perfect glass. Whatever you have on hand will do in a pinch. The only place I put my foot down is with Styrofoam cups: not only are they terrible for the environment, but their chemical smell and funny texture ruin what-ever’s put in them.

Beyond that, it’s a matter of getting as close to the ideal as you can, and having enough of them to go around. The ideal is a thin-lipped glass with pear-shaped bowl (to make it easier to swirl without spilling, and to capture aroma) and a stem (so that you don’t get fingerprints all over the bowl or warm the wine, if it’s been chilled). To get the most out of the wine, get at least a 10-ounce glass; that will leave enough room to swirl a few ounces of wine.

If you frequently drink sparkling wine, invest in some flutes. These tall, thin glasses are designed to channel the bubbles through the wine in a thin, steady stream—which is both beautiful and allows the bubbles to last longer.

White wine glass, red wine glass? Forget it. Traditionally, white wine is served in a smaller glass than red, but that tradition harks back to the advent of glassware, when the number of glasses on the table indicated status. White wine deserves as big a glass as red; the bigger the bowl, the bigger the swirl, and the more scent you can get out of it.

If you can spring for glasses, do so: Nothing beats glass in feel and neutrality of scent and taste. Buy more than you think you can possibly use. That way, when one breaks—which it will—you’ll have another just like it to replace it and not have to worry about that style being discontinued.

With wine and glasses in stock, you’re ready for anything.

A great place to look for glasses is restaurant supply houses. Every city has one; check the yellow pages or ask a local independent restaurant where they bought glassware. Supply houses will sell in bulk, which saves lots of money, and the glasses come in cardboard boxes, making them easy to store.

Uncategorized tips on wine glasses, wine glass, wine glassess