Party at our house!

A few weeks ago we hosted a "blind wine tasting" party at our house. It was so fun to switch things up and do something different!! We brown-bagged 10 bottles of red and labeled them 1 through 10. After sipping the wines, people were asked to write down their favorite numbers. At the end of the night, we revealed which wines got rated the highest!! It was fun to see what people thought, given that they couldn't be swayed one way or another over viewing the label or having pre-conceived notions about a type or brand of wine.

Here's the "Rate It" sheet....Where people gave the wines an A, B, or C grade. We also had a "Guess It" section where people tried to guess the region and year of the wine. (On the back, we had a list of what regions and wines were on display, though we didn't mention the coinciding number of course.)

                                                 

Yum! We served pizzas from Pane Rustica. We also had plenty of cheese&crackers, hummus, and salad. 

          Most of you know Tim has become quite the wine guru over the past several years. (Let's just say his hobby has gotten even more advanced after spending a week in Napa this year!) He has a wine cooler that holds 160 bottles of wine--it's full. And two smaller wine coolers that hold about 40 each. Combined with a few miscellaneous boxes full of wine OUTSIDE the coolers, that's almost 300 bottles of wine in our house! For a while, Tim had been wanting to host a wine party to help use up some of his stash. And since he's always curious to analyze different wines, he thought it would be fun to put the "blind" spin on the tasting, to see which wines really stand out, purely because of their taste!!

                                       

                                             I had fun decorating with wine corks to add some fun

                                             extra touches to the party.

Dave Miller, sipping the wine by the window, is Tim's partner in crime when it comes to enjoying and analyzing wine. I love how this picture captures just how true that is!

We were wondering whether people would really get into this or whether it would be a flop. Turns out, people were REALLY into rating and guessing the wines. The room we set up the tasting in was not large enough for everyone at once, but we rotated turns and it turned out just fine.

We also had plenty of white wine available for the girls--especially this group of girls right here. Pinot Grigio, Savignon Blanc, Chardonnay--you name it and they are there!

                 The kitchen island was action packed, with everyone enjoying munching and chatting all night. 


                                    
                              I was sad to see this picture didn't turn out. Cause I always love it when we throw parties and the whole house--inside and out is utilized. This group enjoyed the patio for quite some time, and I only wish the blurryness wasn't here so you could see the smiles on their faces. (But, you get the idea.)

Tracie, me, and Ann

As the requests came rolling in, Tim entered the living room to play some fun tunes.

These guys sang along. And Jeff (far right) surprised us with his pretty-darn-good-who-knew? harmonica skills.

Leave it to these two to egg Tim on! (fyi, If you're wondering why Brent is wearing just an undershirt, he got majorly spilled on by someone else earlier in the party. But hey, wouldn't be a red wine party without some evidence!!)

Tim played songs by The Fray, Billy Joel, Elton John, Tom Petty, Ben Folds, James Taylor, and Leonard Skynard that night. (Leonard Skynard was of course Sweet Home Alabama, a request made by yours truly. :) I have to say, it was one of Tim's best-ever performances of Sweet Home Alabama. The other Auburn fans in the room were singing along with me. Great memory.)

Here he is toward the end of the night being silly----Does everyone remember the "Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife" song from You Tube Sensation last year ... Antoine Dodson? Yep, Tim still remembers the words...and still thinks it's funny. I will say, I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. And others were cracking up too. He surprised us with that one. 

                          Side note---I DID straighten my hair that night. But check out that one wavy strand! That little stinker.......
                                     
                                                         Mallory also had fun with the harmonica.

     Someone kept turning the lights off and on. ??????? 

                    ...  It's just one of those things I shrug my shoulders and "roll with the punches" on when we host a party.... Likewise when wine glasses get broken (I believe our casualty number at this party was 3)... and when red wine splashes up against my yellow walls. (It wiped off pretty easily.)

                      .....OH! And the candle wax that spilled all over my dining room table this time. Now THAT was a little trickier to get out. Took mahogony polish-remover, several wash rags, and an old blockbuster card to scrape that up the next day. Luckily it all came out, but if it hadn't, it was going to be a great excuse for a new dining room table. (Fun fact---I believe I heard it was the same person who splashed the red wine on the wall and had the wax incident....Clearly, he (who will remain nameless) was enjoying some wine!)

                 

Here's the "after" picture. And in case you're wondering, the bottle of wine that got the most "A's" was Chappellet---which was very interesting because 1) It was the most expensive bottle we put out for the tasting. We were half-expecting people to ironically pick the cheapest bottle, since---isn't that always the way it goes? 2) Touring the Chappellet winery was our most memorable experience in Napa! The wine expert from Bern's recommended we go there on our trip. We took him up on it, and absolutely loved the view, loved the winery tour, loved the people we met, and loved the wine!! (Their whites were very good too.)

All in all, we had a wonderful party!! We'll definitely do it again, maybe even make it a "Kick off of Fall" tradition.