The BOY and I hosted our first ever ‘Wine’ About Winter Party last night!
It included wine tasting, food, and games and was a total BLAST!
Everyone decorated their own wine glasses, and when all of the bottles arrived, the tasting began.
There was some discussion about how to do the rating, and in the end, we went with a 1-10 system. The whole tasting was definitely interesting since some of our guests don’t drink wine.
For appetizers, we did an antipasto plate complete with fresh cheeses, honey, fruit, and nuts.
For the main course, we did meatball sandwiches with a tasty winter salad (made by one of my friends). Dessert was fruit skewers with pound cake, strawberries, and mallows, red velvet cake, and hot chocolate snack mix (recipe to come). Plus a few rounds of Likewise and Apples to Apples followed by a hot chocolate bar.
The winner was a Robert Mondavi Meritage and most of the bottles were empty by the time everyone left with their take home gift of mini muffins and Door County Jam.
Our party was a huge success, and we are already planning a summer themed fajita and beer tasting night.
And I have some great ideas for next year’s Second Annual Wine About Winter Party!
Rowena’s Sour Cream Pound Cake
From Tastebook
Ingredients
3 Cups All purpose flour
3 Cups Sugar
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
6 Large Eggs
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Cup Sour cream
2 tsp almond extract
Directions
Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and mix until all yellow is gone. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Add sour cream and extract.
Preheat oven to 250. Place batter in greased and floured tube pan. Bake At 250 for 15 min. Turn oven up to 300 degrees and bake 1 hour or until done.
FOR SKEWERS:
Cut pound cake into cubes. You can freeze it like this if making ahead of time. Place cake, strawberries, and marshmallows on a skewer. Drizzle with chocolate if desired.
Luv What You Do 
WHAT A BLAST!!! Oh my gosh, I just adore this idea. LOVE the TJ’s wine bags! 😉
I know…I stole a whole bunch. They work great for wine tasting and hiding treats for Cooper : )
Looks like a fun party!!! Those dessert skewers look awesome too!!
They were really tasty and fun to make! I wanted to do some with brownies too but my brownies didn’t turn out soft enough to string up.
I love Robert Mondavi. We visited the tasting room in Napa and it did not disappoint. Great choice on the winner 🙂
Looks like a fun party. I’m sure you guys are stir crazy!!
I’m really hoping that the BOY will take me to napa or sonoma after his bar next summer. If so I will definitey be hitting you for some suggestions!!!
Do it!! That’s where I was born & my dads side is still up there. I will totally plan a post-bar wine bash!
SUCH a cute party idea! Wine is just about the only thing getting me through this obscene weather right now, so this is perfect.
Agreed! The dark reds are the best on cold nights and even more fun when shared with friends!!!
Sounds like an AWESOME party idea! And the desserts sound incredible! Thanks for sharing!
Although I don’t like wine or beer, I could get on board with hosting a party. I like the mexican themed beer tasting party idea for warmer weather!
Yes, you could do a hot chocolate bar for sure. I found these awesome peppermint spoons and few different mallow flavors. The games are always really fun too. It’s great to have friends gathered indoors on a cool evening!
What a great idea… how fun! There’s been plenty of whining (and wining) about winter here, too, though I haven’t had a party (yet) 🙂 That antipasto plate looks so delish, too!
It’s going to be my new favorite appetizer for sure! It was a big hit and everyone had fun combining everything on it!
OMG!! Sounds so fun!! You are so creative!! Beer tasting night sounds fun too. Your antipasto plate looks amazing. What a great way to break up the cold winter days!
For sure! This is going to be a tradition for sure!
I think that antipasto plate is so fun! i love them out and I”m not sure why I never make them. They are easy to do with a potluck too because everyoen can bring stuff.
We made anitpasto plates and took them to the beach with us one day in Florida. It was perfect for lunch!
[…] of those things were leftover peppermint mallows from the hot chocolate bar at our wine party. What goes well with mallows? You guessed it…rice krispies. I quickly whipped […]
[…] Hosting my first wine tasting […]
[…] included! After the success of our Wine About Winter Party, we discovered that our friends don’t drink much wine, but that they love to celebrate and have a […]