customize your wine tasting experience
wine tasting
Our goal is to create a unique wine tasting that will help you and your guests explore the world of wine to both expand your palate and increase your enjoyment of the wine experience. There are many ways to customize your wine tastings. You can choose by country, region, grape, or wine type. I have curated a select list of wine flight ideas to get you started, but we will work together to ensure your tasting is exactly what you want it to be.
Most importantly, I want the wines you taste to be accessible. If you like something you taste, I want to give you the opportunity to purchase it at a discounted price below your normal retail.
wine TASTING starter IDEAS
CHAMPAGNE INTRODUCTION: A variety of champagnes featuring single grape wines with only Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, & Pinot Meunier. Then ending with a blended wine of all three grapes.
BUBBLY EXPLORATION: Try a variety of sparkling wines from regions beyond Champagne while including a champagne to compare and contrast the differences.
SINGLE GRAPE DEEP DIVE: Explore various regional interpretations of well known grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and many others.
REGIONAL EXPLORATION: Explore a single region with a variety of wines from a single region like Napa Valley, Sonoma, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tuscany, Piedmont, and many others.
PREMIUM FLIGHTS: Whether it’s classified growth Bordeaux, high-end Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, vintage champagnes, Super Tuscans, or classic Burgundy producers, we can curate top selections to provide an unforgettable luxury tasting of top collectible wines that most people only read about.
THE BLIND CHALLENGE: Make any tasting completely blind to remove all bias.
A Sonoma County Side by Side Tasting
HOW IT WORKS
THE TASTING SETUP
Depending on the size of the group, our intent is to ensure suitable wine glasses are available for everyone to use. The tasting will start with some basic wine etiquette to better familiarize everyone with the classic approach to opening and pouring wine, along with the basics of tasting and evaluating wine. For added fun we can have everyone individually rank the wines, then tally the scores to determine a final “Wine of the Night” for the group.
FOOD PAIRINGS
I will personally work with the host to provide suggestions for optimal food pairings. There are so many options for food. For groups of friends, it might be easiest to have everyone bring a particular appetizer or part of a meal. However you decide to do it, any food preparation and serving will generally be left up to the host.
While I do not intend to provide food, I definitely have contacts that can help arrange a private chef to prepare a full meal if that is desired. In those cases I would work with the chef to ensure each course paired perfectly with the particular wine choice. A dinner like this will be a separate expense apart from the wine tasting.
WINE TASTING COST
Most wine tastings will have a flat fee for my services plus the cost of the selected wines. For planning purposes, a single bottle of wine can reasonably support about eight guests. That will still leave a little for a retaste if some desire it.
The total cost would be highly dependent on the number and value of wines selected, but this is where the customization takes over to ensure the final cost per person is agreeable to everyone. I guarantee all of the wines I recommend will offer value for the price paid. Even better, they should be available for purchase at a discounted retail price for anyone who would like to buy them.
A deposit will be required to cover the cost of the wines. Final payment will be due the day of the tasting. Submit an inquiry to get started.