Best White Wines To Serve At A Dinner Party

When deciding on which type of wine to serve at a dinner party, most hosts choose red wine over white wine, thinking that this is the better choice. While red wines may be the more popular choice, this does not mean that whites are of lesser quality. In fact, there are several dry white wines out there that are just as good, if not better, than red wines for serving at a dinner party. Here are some of the tips you can follow when looking for the best white wines to serve at your next dinner party.

Criteria for Choosing Your White Wine

One of the first things that you should ask about when choosing white wines is where they have been fermented. Typically, wines are fermented or aged either in traditional oak barrels or the less expensive oak staves. To the uninformed, there may not seem to be much difference between these two options but when it comes to flavor, there is actually a huge disparity between white wines that have been aged in oak barrels and those that have been aged in staves. Without question, the ones that were fermented in oak barrels have a much richer flavor and are of better quality. Because of the higher cost of using oak barrels, these wines may be slightly more expensive but the added cost is certainly worth the difference in taste and quality.

Unfortunately, not all wine manufacturers indicate the place of fermentation in the label, in which case many people resort to guesswork as to which ones might be the better wine. But instead of taking this risk, it is much better to ask around first before making a purchase. Usually, even the clerk at regular wine shops will be able to help you determine which varieties are better than the others.

If you are shopping for white wines specifically for serving at a dinner party, it might also be a good idea to familiarize yourself first with what your guests prefer. There’s no point in buying a case of a certain type of wine that none of your guests will be able to appreciate. Generally, younger people tend to gravitate towards new world wines, which are sweeter and have fruitier flavors. Older folks on the other hand typically like old world wines, which are more subdued and are not as sweet and fruity. But if you are hosting a rather large party with a good mix of different types of people, it would make perfect sense to buy an equal number of old world and new world white wines.

Cheeses for Wine Tasting and Parties

Everyone knows that wine and cheese go together in a way that is nearly impossible to duplicate. Where there is cheese, there is often wine and vice versa. In fact, many wine tastings often include gourmet cheeses that have been expertly paired to perfectly compliment both flavors fabulously.

If you are having a wine tasting party, you will want to be sure to pick a wide variety of wine and cheese that will complement each other. You always want to choose a wine that everyone will like, and when you add a great cheese to that combination everyone’s taste buds will be screaming with joy.

Of course everyone wants to impress their guests with the quality of wine they get for the tasting party. By pairing the wine with a cheese that perfectly complements the flavors, you will be able to get the quality tasting wine without spending a fortune. If you are using a Cabernet Savignon that is younger and not as high in quality as some other wines, pair it with a good blue cheese. You may also want to have some crackers set out, as crackers are a good delivery system for many different types of cheese. If you decide to put crackers out you want to make sure they are very basic, not to salty or flavored.

Wine Tasting and Cheese Tasting

The best way to approach a wine tasting is to have your guests taste the wine before they eat the cheese. After they have sampled the wine, have them take a bite of the cheese and taste the wine again. After they have eaten the cheese a taste is going to coat their mouth and when they sip the wine again the taste will be much bolder than it was to begin with. You will also want to encourage the guests to eat a cracker in between the tastings so that they have a fresh palate to taste on.

There are plenty of ways to pair cheese and wine. When setting up your presentation don’t worry about incorporating all of the cheeses that complement the wine, just make sure to get at least two cheeses in the tasting for each wine.

Two wines you might want to incorporate in with your tasting party are a Cabernet Sauvignon and Chenin Blanc. The two unique tastes paired with a goat cheese, blue cheese, cheddar or parmesan will be a huge hit.

There are a lot of popular wine and cheese combinations, so in order for your guests to be able to sample all of the wines and cheeses you should only put about three wines and three cheeses out to sample.

The most important thing to do is have fun with your wine tasting parties. Sure it is a time for tasting great wines and cheeses, but it is also a time to connect with your family and friends. What better way to connect with someone than a glass of wine, a great tasting cheese and good conversation?

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