To host a wine tasting at home, choose a simple theme, buy four to six bottles that fit it, and pour small tastings of 50–75 ml so one bottle serves 10–15 people. Serve the wines from light to full, put out water, plain crackers and spit cups, and give everyone a score sheet so they can compare notes before you reveal what they drank.
Below you will find theme ideas, the pour maths, the right tasting order, a step-by-step blind tasting, food tips and party games. You do not need to be an expert to host, only organised.
Pick a wine tasting theme
A theme gives the evening a question to answer, which makes the tasting far more fun than opening random bottles. The best themes change only one thing at a time, such as the country, the price or the producer, so guests can taste exactly what that change does.
For a first party, the one-grape and light-to-full themes are easiest: the differences are clear even to beginners.
How much wine do you need for a wine tasting?
A tasting pour is much smaller than a glass with dinner: about 50–75 ml, enough for two or three sips. A standard bottle holds 750 ml, so the maths is simple:
750 ml ÷ 75 ml = 10 tasting pours per bottle
750 ml ÷ 50 ml = 15 tasting pours per bottle
So one bottle of each wine covers 10 guests at generous pours and up to 15 at small ones. For full glass and bottle numbers, see how many glasses of wine are in a bottle.
Guests
Wine needed per wine at 50 ml
Wine needed per wine at 75 ml
Bottles of each wine
6
300 ml
450 ml
1
8
400 ml
600 ml
1
10
500 ml
750 ml
1 (no seconds at 75 ml)
15
750 ml
1,125 ml
1 at 50 ml (none spare), 2 at 75 ml
20
1,000 ml
1,500 ml
2 (none spare at 75 ml)
Four to six wines is a comfortable number. With six wines at 60 ml each, a guest who swallows every pour drinks 360 ml, just under half a bottle. Beyond eight wines, palates tire and notes get vague.
Wine tasting order: what to pour first
The order matters because a big, strong wine makes the next delicate one taste thin. Follow four simple rules:
Sparkling first. Bubbles and fresh acidity wake up the palate.
White, then rosé, then red. Rosé sits between the two in weight.
Light to full. Within each colour, start with the lightest body and lowest alcohol and work up. Body means how heavy the wine feels in your mouth, like skimmed milk compared with whole milk.
Dry to sweet. Sweet wines always go last, because sugar makes any dry wine after it taste sour. The wine sweetness chart shows where each style sits.
Temperature counts as well. Serve sparkling at 6–10°C, light whites and rosé at 7–10°C, fuller whites at 10–13°C, light reds at 12–14°C and medium to full reds at 15–18°C. The serving temperature tool has the figure for each style.
What you need for a wine tasting party
Glasses. One per guest is enough; two or three each let people compare wines side by side. Clear glasses with a bowl that narrows at the top help you see the colour and smell the wine.
Water. A jug on the table to sip between wines and to rinse glasses.
Spit cups. Opaque paper cups or a small ice bucket. Spitting is what professional tasters do, so make it normal.
Palate cleansers. Plain bread, water crackers or breadsticks.
Bags or foil. Paper bags or kitchen foil to hide labels for blind tasting, plus numbered stickers.
A white surface. A white napkin or sheet of paper to tilt the glass against when judging colour.
Score sheets and pens. A template is further down this page.
The basics. A corkscrew, an ice bucket for the whites and sparkling, and a cloth for drips.
Ask guests to skip strong perfume and keep scented candles away: smell does most of the work in tasting.
How to host a blind wine tasting, step by step
In a blind tasting nobody knows which wine is in their glass until the end. It takes the label, the price and the reputation out of the picture, so people judge only what they taste. Here is how to run one:
Choose a theme and buy the wines. Keep the price range and style tight enough that the comparison is fair.
Disguise the bottles. Before guests arrive, have someone who will not be guessing slide each bottle into a paper bag or wrap it in foil, including the neck, since the capsule and closure can be clues. Number the bags and write down secretly which number is which wine.
Chill and open in advance. Bring each wine to its serving temperature and pull the corks of the still wines so nobody sees them. Open sparkling wine just before you pour it, so it keeps its bubbles.
Hand out score sheets. If you are playing a guessing game, give guests the list of wines in jumbled order so they can match them to the numbers.
Pour in order. Serve wine number one to everyone, 50–75 ml each, following the light-to-full order above.
Look, smell, taste. Check the colour against the white surface, swirl and sniff, then sip and think about sweetness, acidity, tannin and body. The guide on how to taste wine explains each step.
Write before talking. Everyone notes their impressions, score and guess in silence, so the loudest voice does not steer the room.
Discuss, then move on. Share notes for a minute or two, then pour the next wine.
Reveal at the end. Unwrap the bottles one by one, in order, and compare guesses and scores with the truth.
Key takeaway: a blind tasting only needs three things done well: hide the bottles completely, pour every wine in the same order to everyone, and make guests write before they talk.
What food to serve at a wine tasting
During the tasting itself, keep food plain. Bread, water crackers and a few unsalted nuts reset the palate without adding flavours of their own. Avoid garlic, chilli, mint, vinegar dressings and coffee while you taste, because strong flavours change how the next sip comes across.
Once the scoring is done, bring out the generous spread. A board of charcuterie works with most reds and rosés. Soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert suit sparkling wine and Chardonnay, while tangy goat's cheese is a classic match for Sauvignon Blanc. Hard cheeses such as aged Cheddar stand up to fuller reds. Olives, salted almonds and good bread fill the gaps.
Wine tasting games for a party
Games give shy guests something to do. Pick two or three for one evening; they work with any theme.
Blind tasting: guess the grape
Serve three or four wines in numbered bags and give guests a list of the grapes in jumbled order. One point for every correct match. Choose grapes with clear differences, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling, for beginners.
The price is right
Pour two bottles of the same grape, one inexpensive and one several times the price. Guests vote on which is the expensive one, then say which they preferred. The vote is often split, which tends to start the best conversation of the night.
Red or white in black glasses
Pour a light red and a full white, served at the same temperature, into black or fully covered glasses so the colour is hidden. Guests guess red or white by smell and taste alone. It is harder than it sounds, and a good lesson in how much our eyes shape what we think we taste.
Aroma jars
Fill small jars with things wines often smell of: lemon zest, green apple, strawberries, black pepper, a vanilla pod, cut grass, a few coffee beans. Guests sniff blindfolded and name each jar, then try to find those smells in the wines.
Describe it in three words
Everyone writes three words for the wine in their glass, then you read them out. Matching words score a point for each person who used them. A list of words to describe wine helps anyone who gets stuck.
Rank and reveal
Guests rank every wine from favourite to least favourite before the reveal. Add up the rankings to find the group winner, then unveil the bottles.
Two truths and a lie
Each guest brings a bottle and three facts about it, one of them false. The group tastes and votes on which fact is the lie.
Wine tasting score sheet template
Copy this table onto paper, with one row per wine. The first row shows how a filled-in line might look. Keep the words simple: there are no wrong answers, only notes that help you remember.
Wine
Colour
Smells
Sweetness
Acidity
Body
Score /10
My guess
1 (example)
Pale lemon
Lime, cut grass
Dry
High
Light
7
Sauvignon Blanc
2
3
4
5
6
For reds, add a column for tannin, the drying, grippy feeling on your gums that comes from grape skins, seeds and oak. Once the party bug has bitten, you can keep sharpening your palate on your own with these ideas for practising wine tasting at home.
Hosting responsibly
A good host makes it easy for everyone to pace themselves. Keep pours small, keep water on the table all evening, serve food, and make spitting feel normal rather than rude. Have soft drinks for anyone who would rather not drink, and sort out the journey home before the first cork comes out: taxis, public transport, a designated driver or a spare bed.
Wine is for adults of legal drinking age and is best enjoyed in moderation.
Pick a theme, such as one grape from three countries, and buy four to six bottles that fit it. Set out glasses, water, plain crackers, spit cups and score sheets. Pour tastings of 50 to 75 ml in order from sparkling and light whites to full reds and sweet wines. Let guests note their thoughts before discussing, then reveal the bottles and finish with cheese and charcuterie.
How much wine do you need for a wine tasting?
Plan on tasting pours of 50 to 75 ml. A 750 ml bottle gives 10 pours at 75 ml or 15 pours at 50 ml, so one bottle of each wine covers up to 10 guests generously and up to 15 with smaller pours. With six wines at 60 ml, each guest tastes 360 ml in total. Buy extra if you will keep drinking with food afterwards.
What is the correct wine tasting order?
Start with sparkling wine, then whites, then rosé, then reds, and finish with sweet or fortified wines. Within each colour, move from light-bodied and lower in alcohol to full-bodied and stronger, and from dry to sweet. This order stops a powerful or sugary wine from making the next, more delicate one taste thin or sour.
What food should you serve at a wine tasting?
While tasting, offer plain bread, water crackers and unsalted nuts, which clean the palate without adding flavour. Avoid garlic, chilli, mint, vinegar and coffee, because they change how the wine tastes. After the scoring, bring out cheese, charcuterie, olives and good bread. Soft cheeses suit sparkling wine and Chardonnay, while hard cheeses and cured meats suit fuller reds.
How do you host a blind wine tasting?
Ask someone who is not guessing to hide each bottle in a paper bag or foil, including the neck, and number them. Chill the wines and open the still ones in advance. Pour the same wine to everyone in order, have guests write their notes and guesses before talking, then reveal the bottles one by one at the end and compare the guesses with the truth.
What are good wine tasting party games?
Popular games include guessing the grape blind, a price challenge where guests pick the expensive bottle, telling red from white in black glasses, matching aroma jars to the smells in the wine, describing each wine in three words, ranking the wines before the reveal, and two truths and a lie about a bottle each guest brings. Two or three games are enough for one evening.
Taste together, blind
Start a tasting in Winelingo and everyone at the table writes their notes without peeking. Then the reveal: the wine, where you agreed, and who has the sharpest palate. Free to download on the App Store.
Winelingo
