Easy Party Mixer

Sometimes, a party needs some sort of vehicle to facilitate mingling and mixing. Here's something we've tried a few times that always gets rave reviews from the crowd: a blind wine tasting.

A blind wine tasting is especially fun when you have "wine aficionados" in the group. (We've seen a few wine snob friends humbled through a blind wine tasting!) Mostly, though, this is a great way to get people chatting and mixing. We've done this a few different ways. The pictures we are showing you below are of a more "pretty" way to present the wine, but we've also wrapped bottles in brown paper bags and written the numbers right on the bag. It works just the same!

First, assemble a good array of wines. 

It's easiest if you stick to all reds, because it can be difficult for people to rate whites against reds---but it's your party, so do what you like! You'll want to select wine at all price points. (You might put a $2 bottle next to a $65 bottle). People often think that the more expensive a bottle, the better it must taste. Doing a blind tasting sort of levels the playing field there!

Secondly, get rid of the evidence.

Whether you wrap the wine bottles in brown paper bags or whether you fill pitchers (as seen below), don't let your guests know what wines are out there.  It will spoil the fun!

Make sure each wine is numbered:

Pass out some kind of sheet so guests can keep track of what they've tasted and what they think. Have them guess the varietal (type of grape) used for each wine, and have them rate all the wines according to what was their favorite all the way to what was their least favorite.

Here's an example of a sheet we've used in the past:

Give guests plenty of time to try and re-try the wines. Then, after everyone has had plenty of time to mingle, taste, and write down their ratings, gather your group together. Go through the wines by number and ask where people rated the wine and what varietal they thought it was. Then, take out the bottle to reveal what that wine was. Go through all of the wines this way.

We have always had fun with this one! Living in California, we are surrounded by people who think they know their wine. This is a fun game to play to see who really knows their stuff! No need to give prizes for the winner (although you could if you wanted), because usually bragging rights are enough. Have fun with this one! :)