Tips from Food & Wine Experts on How to Host a Wine Tasting

Robert Mondavi said it well. Wine is not just a drink. “It’s family and friends. It’s warmth of heart and generosity of spirit. Wine is art.” If you are feeling inspired, tap into your inner artist and create an excuse to enjoy good wine, good food, and good company by hosting your own wine tasting.

You don’t need be a wine sommelier or owner of a four-star restaurant to host a wine tasting. You also don’t need to spend an exorbitant amount of money to throw a fabulous wine tasting party.

As Epicurious writer Lauren Salkeld wrote, “With just a little planning and shopping, a wine tasting can be fun, easy, and affordable.”

Stephen Tanzer of Food & Wine recommends no more than eight tasters for a casual in-home wine tasting. Tanzer suggests lining up three or four glasses in front of each person to serve them in “flights.” For each taste, pour between one and two ounces of wine.

The best way to ensure your guests get the most out of the wine tasting is to organize it similar to the way you would a science experiment. As silly as that may sound, the idea is to keep all but one variable the same for each group of wines. For example, try to choose wines of the same variety and same year, but from different regions. This way you and your guests can enjoy picking up on subtle differences.

Here are some additional ideas and inspiration on how to organize and host your wine tasting party:

Show your guests the steps…

Photo via With This Bling

Make it a mystery wine tasting …

Photo via CB2

Let your guests be the judge …

Photo via Things Festive

Pair the wine with gourmet sausage, cheese, and crackers…

Photo via Etsy

The most important thing to remember when hosting a wine tasting is to keep it light and fun! Make sure your guests can really enjoy themselves no matter how much they know or don’t know about wines.

Let Hickory Farms help you throw a fabulous in-home wine tasting party with our selection of gourmet sausage, cheese, crackers, wine gift baskets, and more! Don’t forget to share your favorite wine tasting party ideas on the Hickory Farms Face book page, too!

Pair Wine Gift Baskets with DIY Personalized Wine Glasses

Wine is always a fine gift, but why not take it one step further? After all, it’s the thought that counts, right? We came across some fantastic ideas for DIY personalized wine glasses that would go perfectly with wine gift baskets from Hickory Farms.

Making your own personalized wine glasses is actually quite easy, too! All you need are wine glasses and some paint. Dip the bottom of each wine glass into the paint, and then place them upside down to dry. To prevent drips, use painter’s tape on the stem.

We love the idea of using chalkboard paint to make personalized wine glasses! This way you can write your own message or the names of the recipients’ right on the rim of the glasses. Don’t forget to include pieces of chalk with your gift so the recipients can have fun writing on them, too!

Photo via Maryland Pink and Green

If you want your wine glasses to look a bit fancier, choose a metallic gold or silver paint instead of chalkboard paint. They’ll turn out beautiful and will look great in any kitchen.

Photo via TaylorMade

Here’s another spin on the chalkboard paint idea that we like just as well – Paint a small square (or the shape of your choice) on the glass. Then, you can monogram the glasses by writing the recipient’s initials in chalk. This would be the perfect gift for those that love monogrammed items. Plus, they’ll make for a pretty display in china cabinets.

Photo via Decor & Dior

If you’re not great with paint, you can always just use glass markers to personalize your wine glasses. Purchase glass markers in a few colors, write on the glasses, and then include the markers in the gift. This way, your gift will keep on giving and the glasses can be personalized over and over again.

Photo via Life Every Day

Of course, you won’t want to forget the wine, so recipients can enjoy their DIY personalized wine glasses right away! Hickory Farms has several great wine gift baskets to choose from, each with a perfectly paired selection of gourmet meat, cheese, nuts, or fruit.

What’s your favorite way to personalize wine gifts? Leave a comment to share with us!

Celebrate Success When You Send Corporate Food Gift Baskets to Clients

“I’d like to thank the Academy…” This famous phrase heard many times at the Oscars is a humble reminder of the first thing one should do when succeeding is say “Thank You” to those who supported you.

And while you may not be receiving an Oscar, your company should always respond to success by first thanking your clients. Sending a corporate food gift basket to clients is a wonderful way to show how much you value their loyalty and express your appreciation for their business. Corporate gift giving is also a thoughtful gesture that can help you to continue to strengthen the relationships you have built with your clients.

Hickory Farms has a wide variety of corporate gift-giving options from wine and cheese baskets to gourmet nut and meat gifts. Our quality corporate gift baskets are filled with delicious ingredients like gourmet meat, cheese, fruit, wine gifts, and other delectable treats. We also have consultants on hand who can help you customize your gifts to build the perfect gift basket for each and every one of your clients.

Wine and cheese baskets from Hickory Farms

We can even help coordinate corporate food gifts throughout the year. Whether you want to send wine gift baskets on birthdays and anniversaries or sweet gifts on holidays, our gift consultants can make sure your clients receive gourmet corporate food gifts that you hand-selected for them, just in time to celebrate the special occasion. All you have to do is email your spreadsheet to one of our consultants and we’ll take care of the rest!

There’s no better way to celebrate success or share good news with clients than with a thoughtful corporate gift. Visit the Hickory Farms website or call 800-715-1474 to speak with a corporate gifts consultant to start creating your custom corporate gift baskets.

What kind of gifts have you given your clients in the past to show your appreciation? What gifts did your clients seem to enjoy the most? We’d love to hear about your experience with corporate gift giving. Share a comment below!