If you can’t tell by the title of this website (and everything that I post about;)), I love wine. I love everything that has to do with wine. Learning about wine and everything that goes into the different varietals and bottles has become really interesting to me lately, so when the Traveling Vineyard suggested hosting a wine event at home, I was 100% on board!
Hosting a Wine Event at Home with the Traveling Vineyard
First of all, any excuse to drink wine, I am in it to win it! For this event, the wine guides that came to our house from the Traveling Vineyard, Debra and Al, asked me to choose 5 wines that I wanted my guests to sample. This was super fun for me because they sent me a description and tasting notes for each one. I got to choose one sparkling, two whites, and two reds. A great selection so that there was something in there for everyone.
Debra also sent me some food pairings, because I really wanted to make the food for the event. There is the option to have the food provided, but to me that takes some of the fun out of the event!
Obviously, I had to get some phone shots for social media. #bloggerlife 🙂
For this event, I made a ton of different things, all of which had a pairing with the specific wines that we were tasting. I had a cheese plate (for the white wine), some fancy meats from this Italian eatery in Scottsdale, artichoke dip (for the white wine), stuffed olives, a dessert tray (for the sparkling and the red), and baked brie with cherries (for the red), pecans, and rosemary. So yummy!
Debra and Al were really great. The first wine we had brought on a fun experience because they had it set up to taste it three different ways, in order to bring out the many different flavors of the wine. The first was chewing the jelly bean, which was all about demonstrating how the receptors in your nose are vital for your sense of smell. The second was a lemon and a green grape, seeing how they changed the flavor of the wine, and the last was with the wine and cheese pairing. I learned a ton about the notes in wine through this experiment.
We went through the 5 wine tastings, and Debra showed everyone the wine and gave information on the tastings after each one. We learned how to properly See, Smell, Swirl, Sniff and Sip each of the wines that were presented.
The Traveling Vineyard has 17 different wines that they offer, and are adding on even more in the near future. The five that we had were all pretty good. I ordered three of them myself, one red, one white, and the sparkling. Reviews on these will be coming soon!
It seemed like everyone had a really good time and learned a lot from the hosts.
Final Thoughts
I would say to make sure that the group of people you invite when you are hosting a wine event at home, really like wine and/or want to learn about it, or else they might get a little restless. You are sitting pretty close quarters listening to quite a bit of information in between tastings. Some hosts may not include as much information, while others chat about how the wine is made, different varietal components, etc… To me, this is really interesting and I loved learning so much information!
At this rate, I’ll just be here, on my way to becoming a sommelier;)Â
Interested in hosting your own wine get together? Contact my hosts here and they can get you started. It was such a great time. I had a blast planning it and I would definitely do it again. It would be the perfect event for a bridal shower or a girls get together.
*Cheers to going to a wine tasting, right in your living room*
We have a lot of local wineries by us. I wonder if any do this. Looks like it was super fun and educational. Your food pairing looks so delicious! Wine+ food anytime = good times 😉
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Thank you!
Great post! We visit wineries in the area a few times per year, but we’ve never considered having a tasting right in our home. This would be a great idea for a holiday gathering. Definitely keeping this in mind!
I’ve done this a couple of times and I am always amazed at just how different my guests’ palates can be! I go for the bold reds, and not most of the guests can keep up with me when it comes to those kinds of wines. They want to stay safe with chardonnay… 😉
I am more of a red gal myself, so I totally get what you mean!
Thanks Joanna, any time is a good time for a home wine tasting session!
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Great aricle! I am a wine guide with the Traveling Vineyard in Portland, Oregon. If anyone local to me would like to have a free in home wine tasting event, please contact me. Like Joanna said, they are a fun and educational event for groups of friends. Cheers!
You had me at “wine” and then you won my heart at “home” aha.
I’ve definitely got to organize a wine event with my girlfriends. Cheers to that!
Christie’s Take on Life. xx
You should! It’s so much fun:)
Christie, where are you located? I can help find you a wine guide
I have been invited to a few of these parties and have always had a blast!!!
They are so much fun!
You would LOVE France! The wine there was so amazing. This looks awesome. If we lived closer I totally would have shown up lol 😉
Hahah I totally wish you could have been there:)
I was with Traveling Vineyard for over a year. Their wine selection is amazing; your party looked amazing too.
Thank you!
Love this article! Honestly, the best seat in the house is that of the Wine Guide. By far being a Wine Guide is the BEST “job” in the world. First and foremost it is FUN~The FRIENDSHIPS made on a local level (at events) and national level (inside the company) are incredible not to mention the Financial benifits, the personal Fullfillment and the flexablity of working your own schedule. I am so glad you enjoyed your Traveling Vineyard wine tasting experience! It is sooooo much fun!! Cheers~
Love this! Im a wine guide with the traveling vineyard! http://Www.myttv.com/nhwineguidecandace
This is so great! I love seeing others enjoy what Traveling Vineyard has to offer. Our in-home tastings are always a good time and I still continue to learn more with each event I do. I’m a Wine Guide in Indiana if you’re interested in learning more!
Great article! Being a wine guide at the Traveling Vineyard is really fulfilling. I joined recently, as I finished classes to be a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) and wanted to put my studying into practice. I didn’t know it was going to be so much fun, too! I’m in the Chicago area if anyone wants to book at party or talk to me about being a wine guide.
How cool! I’ve never heard of Traveling Vineyard before but I’ll check them out. We live right in wine country though and have dozens of tasting rooms within a couple of miles away and we also host a lot of tastings at home, but there’s always so much to learn with wine! Love the apps you chose for this tasting. Yum!
That sounds like an awesome night! I think it would be so interesting to learn about the wine and try to smell different items before tasting the wines!
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Hi Lauren, if a tasting sounds like something you might be interested in doing please let me know where you are located and I can help find you a wine guide with Traveling Vineyard, Cheers!
Wow thanks for publishing this! I’m a wine guide with Traveling Vineyard and absolutely love my job. It’s so great to see people’s responses to their wine tastings. Anyone in western West Virginia or southeast Ohio that would like to host an event, let me know! http://www.wineguide.life/loraord
What a great selection of foods that you paired with the wines! So glad that you enjoyed your experience.
I joined The Traveling Vineyard this past April. I drank wine occasionally, but I can say my love for wine has grown since being a part of this company. I have met and become friends with many amazing people just by doing tastings in their homes. I am in Rockland County, NY if anyone has an interest in hosting in my area.
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