Looking for a way of bringing people together with an online wine tasting? We can do that for you but if you're looking to host your own, here are a few tips to make it a successful event and a lot of fun
Online tastings of wine, beer, chocolate or whatever else you're into are are an easy and great way to learn something, have fun and share an experience when distance doesn’t allow. Here is our guide for making sure you have the best night’s fun – without leaving home!
1) Make sure everyone has the same wines for your tasting.
Whilst it can be fun to talk about what each person on the call has in their glass, you just can’t beat everyone having the same wine (just as you would if you were at a restaurant together). Buying the same label is a way of sharing an experience without being in the same place. For your at home online wine tasting, choose wines that can be easily sourced. If your guests are all living in different countries, you might want to choose a couple of wines (we think 3 is the minimum for a wine-tasting) including some broad varieties such as Prosecco, rosé from Provence, Rioja Riserva, that everyone should be able to find easily in supermarkets.
2) Choose the right platform to host your tasting
If you’re hosting an online event, the technology and a great wifi connection is essential. There are so many platforms out there and many offer free services. We love Zoom because we most of the time people join in couples, love seeing each other and we can also use breakout rooms which means that you can also make smaller groups for more cosy chats. If you're gathering people together who are at home alone, you might want to look at Spatial Chat, or Wonder Me which are fun ways of socialising
3) Send out recipes
"Wine is supposed to be with food, that’s the whole point" (so said Julia Child) so make sure you send out some tasty recipes and snack pairings to go with your virtual wine tasting.
It’ll be fun to try regional recipes and attempt something you wouldn’t usually cook and then compare results. There may be some culinary disasters but that’s what’ll make it memorable! On our first ever dinner date a guest tried traditional German recipe of Maultasche but they disintegrated and he was left with something that looked more like soup – we still remember it!
4) Delegate an expert for each wine.
Our events are hosted by Sommeliers or wine producers that give our guests all the stories behind the labels and background to the region. If you don’t have an « expert » in your group, delegate researching a few facts (even better when they’re fun trivia) about each wine to a 
different person – especially the extroverts who could be encouraged to make a show of it!
Give them the task of finding out five things about the wine to include:
1) one interesting fact about the grape - what makes it special.
2) the region or town it is produced in and why its produced in that way
3) how the wine is made : natural fermentation? Oak or steel? Hand-picked? foot-trodden? Noble rot?
4) the producer : historic or a new-comer? in the trade or entrepreneur turned winemaker?
5) what everyone should be smelling and tasting in the wine
You can usually find the tasting notes of a wine on the wineproducer's website with a lot of this information, otherwies Vivino is a good resource for tasting notes generated by the wine-loving community.
5) Make it fun!
Wine isn’t supposed to be too boring! It is also very subjective. What each of us can taste and smell is shaped by our life experiences. Wine-tasting is about provoking a discussion and bringing people together. We love to love add to Quaranvino events with polls, word clouds, rankings and quizzes. Anything that will get your guests talking - especially when opinions differ!
6) Add in a prize!
Whether it’s something totally spontaneous or something that they can prepare for guests love a gift – which doesn't always need to be something physical, get creative! We’ve used themes such as the best hat, wigs and the most Christmassy outfit you can find (won by a guy with a father-Christmas patterned three-piece suit – yes, really!!) to get our guests doing something a little different. We’ve also had completely spontaneous giveaways offered by producers when they just really liked the vibe in the group!
If you would prefer someone else looks after the preparation, logistics, and organisation to make for a successful online wine-tasting, drop us a line and we’ll organise your next online wine tasting! Just write to us via our contact form and we’ll get back to you to discuss how we can make your online wine tasting happen!