How to host tasting parties
I remember back in the day when I was learning video and web by day and bartending by night. I had friends who were chefs and friends who were sommeliers. And we did a lot of tastings. Cheese tastings, wine tastings, charcuterie tastings. Everything – we were so hungry to learn about all these foods and wines that we were discovering and we wanted to compare.
Flash forward now: most of my friends can’t tell between 2-buck Chuck and a premium vintage bottle of DRC. But there are a few that want to learn, a few that put up with my blabbering about triple creme, the black foot Iberico hams fed only acorns and hazelnuts, and the mysterious superiority of wines de biodynamique.
Enter this interesting book from Dina Cheney, who lays out for us tasting grids and recommendations for how to throw such parties. She offers guides for 10 different kinds of tasting parties, and includes some suggested pairings and recipes, as well as information on the types of foods in the tastings (such as origins and grades of olive oils).
Fun.
$15
