putting on a wine tasting for friends

[wood1954]

Against my better judgement i was talked into bringing my wines to a friends house for a wine tasting. The good thing was everyone had a good time and we drank some wine together. But, half the wines really need a lot more aging. The wines i made from frsh fruit were the biggest hits. The Wine Expert Valpolicella was deemed pretty bad due it's weird smell, taste was OK but it has an unidentifiable smell to it. My blueberry was deemed the best for flavor, mouthfeel and aroma, Elderberry was second and a Welch's concoction was third. The WE Sauvignon blanc was OK but ruined by adding golden raisins while fermenting, the Mezza Luna white was deemed drinkable but nothing special. Apple wine was considered bad until i added some simple syrup to it then it was pretty good. All in all a very humbling experience. I have a long way to go to learn to make good wine. On the other hand half the wines were experiments so i could learn winemaking and i still have hope for them. All in all i opened 11 different types of wine and only 3 were considered close to a good commercial wine.
Has anyone else done something like this? what kind of result did you get?

 

[Rocky]

I have not done it yet but I will be doing it in March, 2013. I live in a small sub-division (36 homes) and we have an annual wine tasting/wine party. We have hosted this twice in the past with commercial wines (our themes were Wine of Tuscany and Wines of New Zealand & Australia) and they were very well received. We have had several neighbors over for parties or dinner since I got back into wine making and the suggestion was made that we host next year's tasting with our own wines. Foolishly (we had been drinking), we accepted.

Your experience with this, Wood, points up what I seemed to sense and that is to be sure the wines have some age. I will have a decent assortment of at least 1-2 year old wines, which is not overly aged, so I am a little concerned about the results. Time will tell.

 

[NoSnob]

Well of course everyone likes the idea of sitting back and drinking our free wine. Just like we like to hear how fantastic it is.

I haven't yet had a batch of wine that had such serious flaws that time would not improve it. But I guess that's possible.

Many years ago Gallo had an advertising slogan "We will sell no wine before its time." Judging from the taste of some of their wine they really did not wait long enough. [Now you can't buy Gallo but they have bought up dozens of companies that kept their label!]

I like to share my wine with friends and have done so but do not share wine that I am not happy with. If it's just a matter of a good wine not having aged sufficiently, I let them know that some of my wine is just not ready yet but just wait awhile and we'll have some together. And when I give them a bottle that I know needs more age (which maybe I shouldn't do) I tell them it's drinkable now but will be much better in XX months. Most of them wait, believe it or not.

Then too just because I think it's ready does not mean that everyone will like it. So I have proceeded cautiously. As it turns out they are not all that critical and if anything overvalue how good it is. Maybe I'm my biggest critic, or maybe I really do know wine better than they. Meaning if I'm happy with it they will be too.

My best advice is to share your best but be careful about sharing it with friends if it's too green/early. I have supplied wine to accompany snacks at outdoor music concerts and I have hosted informal wine-food pairings in my home. I kept the emphasis on pairing the wine with food that would make the wine taste even better. It's fun experimenting what food to serve your guests and what wine to pair it with. And it makes a BIG difference in how the wine is perceived. Fun and really good times can make up for a few shortcomings in the wine.

If I open a bottle with friends and that bottle is disappointing to me, I'm not reluctant to say so. I have found wine sometimes varies some in the same batch so every bottle can be an adventure! I try to remember that my friends react favorably to my artful presentation and that may be as important as my understanding the science of winemaking. On the other hand, I let my friends know that I can be critical of my own wine. I also let them know they should not feel obligated to like it just because I made it. The fun is really in the sharing.

NS

 

[JohnT]

My advice to everyone is to forget having a wine judging with friends, and instead have just wine parties.

Keep in mind that these people are your friends. As your friends, they will (most likely) not give you an impartial verdict.

Put yourself in their place. If you are given a glass of wine that you are proud of, and your friends do not like it, would you expect them to put their hands to their throats, pour the remaining wine onto the ground, and yell "He is trying to kill me!"? No, as friends they would simply smile and say "pretty good".

I stopped asking my friends what they think of my wine a long time ago. I find out what my friends really think by taking note on what wines they want me to open. I know what they REALLY like when a friend asks for a bottle to take home or to drink at a special event.

To get the wine judged, I enter formal winemaking competitions.

 

[DirtyDawg10]

I brought some of my newly bottled wine to my Brother's party in a 1gal carboy and it was interesting. Some people loved it and some thought it was OK. My Mother In Law was the only one who didn't like it. She didn't say it in so many words but I could tell...lol. Many were interested in making their own and some were interested in buying a few bottles. Of course I told them they were not for sale and why. Most of the complaints were based on the alcohol flavor up front which should get better with age. Now I'm just hoping that my other wine that I'm allowing to bulk age will get such good reviews.

Different people have different tastes I guess and you will always get varying opinions. As others have said in other threads, what counts is that you and those drinking your wine on a regular basis are happy with the wine. I have already told a few people that I will have more bottles of wine to share of the batches that don't turn out so good

 

[saramc]

I organized an amateur winemaking group for my metro-area (Amateur Winemakers of Louisville) and at our first face to face meeting, right before Christmas, we all were to bring ONE wine with us for sharing and one bottle for a Holiday bottle swap at the end of the night. I think there were about 8 of us initially (now close to 20 members), and several of us brought an extra bottle to share. By the time the evening had ended, we had opened at least 13 bottles and several were empty. We were all beginners with less than a year's experience with the exception of one member who had been making wine with relatives for years. It turned out that we had a LOT of country fruit wines and a few meads. Semi-sweet and sweet took over the evening, but I suspect that is because there were many untrained dry palates within the group. I can say now, many appreciate the dry wines. We talked about "blind judging" and I have even taken various judging sheets to a meeting but everyone gets so into the enjoyment of drinking the wine and just talking to each other that we never get around to scoring. The majority indicate they are interested in feedback, so I have the forms. I initially started the group with the intent to meet monthly but that has been blown to bits and I will actually be pleased if I can coordinate a quarterly meeting. You are welcome to check us out on FB: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/137454883025144/

 

[Runningwolf]

My advice to everyone is to forget having a wine judging with friends, and instead have just wine parties.

Keep in mind that these people are your friends. As your friends, they will (most likely) not give you an impartial verdict.

Put yourself in their place. If you are given a glass of wine that you are proud of, and your friends do not like it, would you expect them to put their hands to their throats, pour the remaining wine onto the ground, and yell "He is trying to kill me!"? No, as friends they would simply smile and say "pretty good".

I stopped asking my friends what they think of my wine a long time ago. I find out what my friends really think by taking note on what wines they want me to open. I know what they REALLY like when a friend asks for a bottle to take home or to drink at a special event.

To get the wine judged, I enter formal winemaking competitions.

John I totally agree with you, OMG not again! Althouggh I do have a select group of friends that will be very honest with me, I would say most will less so. I had a few wines at my last party that I gave tasting straight out of the carboys that I had not bottled yet. I thought the wines were about an 7 on a 10 scale. Half the folks raved about them. After adding 1 ml/gal of gum arabic I have to admit the wines really taste good now to me.

 

[Rocky]

You all are really starting to concern me now! My problem is, "a card laid is a card played" and I have already agreed to do it. I will need to have about 6 or 7 wines and I am thinking 2 or 3 whites and the rest red. These are not very sophisticated parties, more fun than serious, and usually dissolve into a frat party. Last time I had it, two of the women were so hung over that they did not get out of bed the next day. We ended up playing "Hi Bob" with Wild Turkey.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Rocky, I wouldn't worry too much. Like others have said, you'll have a wide variety of people and tastes. If you're worried, have a close friend or two (ones who will be honest) over before the party and ask for their opinion. Select one or two wines that you're comfortable serving and get commercial wines for the balance. If people ask why you don't have more home-made wine, just be honest. Tell them that it's still aging and isn't ready to be served yet.

 

[dbzlof]

Ihave had a little tasting party. I however put my wines, mostly fruit wines, up against some of our local (Wisconsin) wineries. In my opinion, we have quiete a few good wineries here, and the results were mixed. In a blind tasting of like varities, about half the crowd picked mine over commercial, so I was happy. A lot of my friends enjoy my wine, so I must be doing something right!

Dale

 

[Runningwolf]

Be ready for honesty. LOL

 

[wood1954]

that's great

Good Find!

 

[jswordy]

I have found that it is ME who is the most overly concerned with the flavor and mouthfeel of my wines.



Whenever I serve wine to friends, and it doesn't seem to matter which wine, I always get a lot of "orders" to buy it and then have to explain that I can't legally sell it. People ask to buy it on FACEBOOK, for God's sake.

People are literally calling me up on Fridays and saying, hey come over to my party, man! And can you bring a few bottles of your wine????

So I wouldn't worry over it much. Just let other folks make their own judgments. Most often they will like it and chastise you for not bringing more bottles. It has done wonders for my popularity!