Organiser une soirée dégustation de vin réussi

Côtes de Provence Restoration Provence wine Rosé wine

Organize a successful wine tasting evening!

For great wine lovers and curious little gourmands, wine tasting is a fun exercise that allows you to improve your knowledge of red wines , white wines and rosé wines . Here are some tips for organizing a successful wine tasting evening .

Wine tasting: organizational details

For your tasting evenings , some advice should be followed carefully to ensure a successful convivial moment.

Choosing the location : to be able to perfectly observe the color of the wine and welcome all the participants, it is advisable to reserve a sufficiently large and very bright space ;
Choosing wine glasses : the wine glass allows you to analyze the color when tasting the wines, but also to be able to rotate them to aerate them. Tradition dictates that each type of wine has its type of glass (Burgundy glass, Bordeaux glass, etc.). Next, you need to make sure that the glass is very clean and odor-free;
Make the essentials available: the traditional tasting technique requires spitting out the wine, so you must provide a spittoon . Also prepare tasting sheets and pencils, as well as water and bread, or even a charcuterie board for those with a sweet tooth.

The order of wine tasting

A good tasting evening is always organized in the same way, following a 3-step tasting process :

The visual examination of the color of the wine , in other words, the color of the wine, its clarity and its brilliance;
The olfactory examination , with the first nose (without shaking the glass), then the second nose (after turning the wine in the glass to aerate it);
The taste test , where the aromas of the wine are detected, as well as the sweetness, acidity, or even bitterness of the wine.

Should we organize a themed tasting?

Depending on the reason for the evening, it can be fun and interesting to choose tasting themes . The event can then be focused on red wines, on wines from Provence, on the Syrah grape variety...

Ideally, it is better to take into account the level of the tasters when choosing the theme of the tasting. For beginners, who come for an initiation, on the occasion of a bachelor party or a birthday, for example, it is better to start with wines from different wine-growing regions . This comparative tasting is the simplest to approach, and the nuances between the grape varieties and the characteristics are very marked.

For connoisseurs, you can complicate the exercise by comparing several wines from the same wine region . It will then be a question of determining the specificities of each one, the grape varieties, the winemaking technique, the terroir, the vintage...

Wine tastings: 4 mistakes not to make

Regardless of the types of wines that are going to be served, there are wine tasting mistakes that could compromise the entire evening.

Do not follow the traditional tasting order : the tasting must follow a logical order, to avoid saturating the taste buds with overly powerful tannins or sugars. We then start with the driest wines, and end with the sweetest. In the same logic, we start with the lightest wines, moving towards the more full-bodied. Finally, young wines should be tasted before aged wines;
Inviting too many people to the event : it is advisable not to invite more than 10 people to a tasting, to let everyone express themselves and maintain the concentration necessary for this demanding exercise;
Tasting too many different vintages and too large quantities : the traditional tasting technique requires serving 5 cl of wine per person and per wine. This is more than enough to analyze the vintage. In the same way, you should not offer too many varieties of wine, at the risk of saturating your taste buds and seeing the tasting sheet overflow.

Our best wines for a tasting evening

If you want to organize a tasting evening on the theme of the Provence wine region , challenge your guests to compare the different vintages from our estates.

These 4 vintages allow you to take an overview of the best that Provence has to offer. You will then have the pleasure of carrying out a comparative tasting of wine from the 3 colors of the same estate, and discovering the nuance of the terroir, the grape varieties and the winemaking techniques.

For an important event, or just for the pleasure of learning, the wine tasting evening must always respect certain immutable rules to be a success. Wine tasting at the Domaine de Berne can then be an original gift idea for a Provence wine lover.