If you are planning a party, event or gathering, you will want to know how to choose the perfect wine for the occasion. To do this, you will need to consider a few factors, including the food you are serving and the type of occasion being marked. We will discuss which wines work best with which meats and flavours so you know how to pair a wine expertly with a meal or canapé.
Then, we will think about the occasion itself. If you are celebrating something, a sparkling wine may be in order. If your guests haven’t got tables, red might not be advisory. Do you have access to a wine cooler? The logistics of the evening will affect your wine choices for the occasion. Lastly, we will leave you with some final considerations about decorating the space and choosing music for your event.
Pairing Wine with Food
One of the first things you need to think about when it comes to choosing the right wine for an occasion is how well the drink goes with the food on offer. If you are hosting an event, your menu will need to be paired expertly with the perfect wine.
A simple tip for pairing wine expertly with food is that the wine should be the same flavour intensity as the food. This means red wines tend to pair best with stronger (dark) meats like beef and lamb, while white wines pair better with lighter meats like chicken or fish. On top of that, the more bitter wines, such as some strong reds, are best balanced with fat. So, a bold red and a lamb shank is a match made in heaven.
Additionally, you need to keep the sauce in mind. A mushroom or black pepper sauce will speak to red wine more than, say, a coconut or lime sauce, which will compliment a white wine nicely. If your food is spicy, a refreshing, fruity white will be a welcome addition to your palette.
So, if you are serving canapés that range in flavour intensity and seasoning, you might want to have a variety of wines on offer. You can start with the best sellers from Chapel Down wine, for example, and make sure you are incorporating a range of still and sparkling wines, red, white and rose. If your main course is going to be largely red meat, you might want to go heavier on the red wine order, while if you are serving fish, you will want to get more white wines in.
Consider whether or not you want to offer a welcome drink as well. This tends to be a sparkling wine, in which case you will need plenty of those to begin the festivities.
Consider the Occasion
Next, you will need to consider the occasion. Some drinks have certain connotations and you need to make sure your wines of choice are appropriate for the tone of the event. For instance, if the mood is celebratory, champagne and other sparkling wines will be appropriate, but in a more mournful or serious environment, a popping cork might seem jarring and unsuitable.
Moreover, consider the layout of the event. Do you have access to a fridge or wine cooler? If not, you might want to focus more on red wines and drinks that can be served with ice. Meanwhile, if you have guests milling around with glasses in hand, you might prefer to serve white wines so if anything is spilled it is less of a crisis than a red wine stain would be on a dress or carpet.
By contrast, for a sit-down meal, you may want to have reds available in high-volumes. Especially if you want to serve a cheese board after the meal. With a great red and some cheese to nibble, your guests can sit happily for hours at a well-stocked table.
All of these logistical considerations will help you to make a more appropriate decision in terms of which wines to serve for the occasion. When in doubt, it is generally best to serve a good selection so everyone can find something to their taste. At the end of the day, your guests will know what they like and will have the best time if they can drink wine that they love.
Final Thoughts: Tips for Throwing a Party
Now that you know what food and drink you are serving, you will want to start thinking about other aspects of a great party or event. Make sure you know what music you are playing. This might just be a playlist that you set up in advance, or else you might want to hire a live band or a professional DJ. Make sure the music suits the tone and budget of the event.
As well as music, you will want to decorate the space for the event so that it looks appropriate for the situation. Consider balloons, streamers, banners, candles, fairy lights, tablecloths, flowers, placemats, and so on. You know best what level of decoration suits the mood – just make sure it looks like you have made an effort to decorate and set the tone. Your decorations will inform the guests of the vibe and formality level of the event.
If you keep all of these factors in mind, you are sure to host a successful and tasteful event. Have fun planning your occasion!
As you can see, when it comes to choosing the perfect wine for an occasion, there are several factors to keep in mind. For one thing, you will need to think about which wines pair best with which meats and flavours. Reds and dark meats are a match made in heaven, while whites compliment light meats and fish best. Consider the sauce and seasoning as well.
Then, you can start to consider the logistics of the event. Do your guests have a table? Do you have a wine cooler? Reds might spill and stain in a more rowdy event where tables are not provided, while whites won’t go down well without access to a refrigerator. Make sure you choose appropriate music and decorations for the event as well.
