Looking for some great wines for your next party? Look no further! The Wine Pair introduces a new series for the podcast where we will rate and review three wines - usually a red, a white, and a sparkling or Rose’ - that make sense to serve at larger gatherings - cookouts, or weddings, or anniversaries, or whatever! These wines will be reasonably priced and easy to find, and we’ll let you know if they are crowd-pleasers or not. This episode is focused on a general large party, and we think we have found three fantastic wines that are sure to please the crowd at your next shindig. We also talk about how we think about choosing wines for parties, and we also talk about how parties have changed as we have gone through different phases of adulthood as a couple. Let’s just say that we found when our kids were school-aged people started partying again like they were in college! Wines reviewed in this episode: 2020 Marques de Caceres Verdejo, 2018 Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, and Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut sparkling wine.
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Episode Transcript and Show Notes
Episode 20: Wines for Your Next Party! 00:00
Hello! And welcome to the Wine Pair podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and wine-pairing partner in crime - Carmela. And we are the Wine Pair.
Alright, I am really excited this week because we are going to try something that we haven’t done before on the podcast, but could be really fun. We thought it would be a great idea to do a new series of episodes focused on wines that would be great to serve at a party. And by party, I don’t mean like PAR-TAY or ragers with spodie, or as our daughter and her friends call it “jungle juice,” - in fact I am not even sure if anyone outside of Seattle even knows what a spodie is. The first definition in Urban Dictionary calls out Seattle specifically.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Spodie
When we say party, we mean something more like large gatherings for special occasions or big parties like a wedding or a birthday party or an anniversary party or even a big backyard cookout where your goal is to serve some good, crowd pleasing wines, and not break the bank. So, we are going to put a premium on three things in these episodes on party wines - selection (having a variety of wines to cover different palettes), low cost, and good quality. Because we want people to have fun and be happy, right?!?
In this episode we are going to focus on a kind of generic get-together with family and friends, because hopefully soon we can start having them again with much more regularity - COVID restrictions are relaxing in lots of parts of the country, spring is almost here which means summer is getting closer - all awesome news (Although I am not super psyched about daylight savings time starting again). And I know we have been really looking forward to having those get togethers that we just haven’t had for a while. And, in future episodes, we’ll get more specific and focus on some themes of parties where you might want to have some wine - so we’ll do wedding wines and dinner party wines and holiday wines and lots of other bigger party ideas - a whole gamut of different types of get togethers, and talk about wines that might work for you and your crowd
And, this fits really nicely into the overall purpose of our podcast. As a reminder to those of you out there in listening land, in every episode we taste and rate 3 wines that you should be able to easily find in your local grocery store, or local shop, or Costco, or online wine store, and are priced under $20. We release a new episode every week, and if you want to make sure you never miss one of our shows (because who would want to miss them?!?) then hit that subscribe button, and if you are a regular listener, please give us a review and a rating so that others can find us! We would love that! We would love you for doing it! We might even invite you over for Sunday night dinner!!!
Topic: Choosing wines for a party 04:52
Now, before we get to the wines in this episode, let’s talk a little about choosing wines for a party where you are going to invite a bunch of family and friends for a cookout. We love to throw parties, don’t we?!? A lot of times, our parties are with family, and I know when we try to figure out what we are going to serve, we have a nice selection of beer, and we generally also have a selection of wines.
It’s kind of funny in our family because my family really doesn’t drink very much, and your family does more, but usually the before meal drink of choice is not wine - it is beer, and the during meal drink is wine. I like to have some wine before the meal, but I am a bit of an outlier on that for sure within our usual crowd. That being said, I do think there are a lot of people who like to have wine as their before dinner drink.
We do have to confess, Carmela, that when we have parties, we do have a tendency to over buy. That is true for wine for sure. And we have a tendency to over buy food and just have too much food for people. For instance, even for smallish family gatherings - and smallish means between 12 and 20 people - Carmela and her mom and her brother will collectively make about 5 desserts. And it drives me cuckoo.
And, as far as food goes, I think we have this perpetual fear, that comes from being an Italian, that we will run out of food, which is about the worst thing that you can have happen as an Italian.
Now, back to the wines - for a larger gathering, we tend to try to have 3 different wines at our parties - always at least one red and one white, and then usually either a sparkling or a rose’. Now I generally prefer a sparkling over a rose’, but I will say that if the party is in the heat of the summer and is not associated in some way with a wedding or anniversary, I will look to serve a rose’. Sometimes we will have more than one option for the red or the white just to give some variety, but honestly it is sometimes just more hassle than it is worth. I will say that while it can be fun, depending on the size of the party, to have multiple choices, but I think you just want to be careful about making things too complicated.
So today for our partywines we have selected an Italian red, a Spanish white, and a US sparkling, and we’ll talk about them in a minute, but first . . .
Broader Topic: Parties as older Adults versus when we were younger Adults 08:22
We are going to take a left turn as we always do and talk about a topic that is a little related to the topic at hand. And this week, we are going to talk about how parties have changed between when we were younger adults and now that we are older adults.
There are definitely distinct phases in how I see parties and our participation in them. Definitely flavored by being married and having children. So, this won’t be universal for all people - for sure is our POV - and for people without kids, this may be a little harder to identify with. And, we are going to start with our experiences as adults and as a couple
Phase One: Before children, as a couple
- Could drink all night, could stay up late, could get back up in the morning and do it again
Phase Two: With children, but before school age - like 0-5
- Try to be mature, start drinking wine. Lots of polite parties, have to be aware of the kids. Not get hammered. Have to get home early to put the kids to bed. Starting to feel maybe more sophisticated.
Phase Three: With school aged children, especially between K-8
- The most drunk since college. School auctions, Y-guides camping trips. Stay up too late. Expensive booze and wine. Show off. Martinis. HORRIFIC hangovers. People you don’t really know that well but feel like you should because your kids are hanging out with them. Smaller group of people to associate with.
Phase Four: With older children, once they were past 8th grade
- Mostly started to avoid them. Mainly for school or church related events. Didn’t mind just staying home. Because the earlier parties were really about making connections with the parents of your kids friends
Phase Five: As more “seasoned” adults
- Still can’t stay up late. A bit more chill. May have nice wine or beer or spirits, but it is more relaxed. Food is better. Generally people you like. A lot of family. Can drink with your kids. More open to them again.
Anyway, let’s get to tasting so we can see what we think. Are you ready?
Brief overview of the friends and family party wines we chose 17:28
So, again, for wine ideas for a friends and family party, we are going to taste and review a red, a white, and a sparkling. Again, these wines are meant to be easy to find and not expensive so that you can buy them in bulk. AND they should be crowd pleasers.
Like we always do, we’ll taste and rate these wines to let you know if we think you should buy them or not - hopefully we did a good job on selecting these wines. And, after we taste and review these wines, we are going to compare the tastes and smells we think with those of what would be the typical or expected taste profile for each should be. And, in our show notes, we’ll also start including food pairings we think might work. Just a hot tip for those of you who want to see the transcript of this episode with our ratings, tastings, and food pairings, we post all of that on our website TheWinePairPodcast.com
We’ll now go through these wines very quickly:
The white wine we chose is a white wine called Verdejo. This will be fun because it is a wine I have not had before, but we have liked the Spanish white wines we have tried. Verdejo feels like a good choice because it is supposed to be very light bodied, very dry and crisp, with good acidity, so it will go well with food lots of different types of foods. It is basically only grown in the Rueda region of Spain and is not super common, but I was able to find it locally in a store, and I know for sure you can get it online at wine.com - so not too hard to find. It’s also low cost!
The red we chose is a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Ok, not to make your head spin - but there IS a town called Montepulciano in Tuscany, and there IS a wine called Vino Nobile di Montalcino which is actually made from the Sangiovese grape which is the grape used in Chianti - this wine is actually from an area to the EAST of Rome called Abruzzo (Tuscany is to the North and West of Rome), and is made from the Montepulciano grape. So different. Confused yet? It is a very popular and common wine in Italy. It is a nice wine to have at a bigger party for sure, great with pizza, especially grilled pizza, great with meats, great with richer foods or fattier foods that you might have at a party. It is a wine you can leave open (it is often decanted for a long time) and it can cellar for a while, and is usually pretty inexpensive.
The sparkling wine we chose is one that I have had before and like, and that should be both easy to find and easy on the pocketbook - from Chateau Ste. Michelle, it is the Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut. Now, again, Brut means that it is a dry wine, and it is not Champagne - because only sparkling wines from the Champagne region are called Champagne - it is a sparkling wine made in the same way Champagnes are.
I think sparkling wines are great for whenever, not just parties, but get-togethers are great reasons to bring out bubbles. I do think that Prosecco, which I do love, has become so popular that other sparkling wines are being forgotten. And, I will note that a lot of Proseccos are on the sweeter side, so we are going with a slightly dryer sparkling brut.
Wines and Ratings in this Episode 20:44
Wine: Marques de Caceres Verdejo
Region: Spain, Rueda
Producer: Marques de Caceres
Year: 2020
Price: $8.99
Retailer: Town and Country Markets (Central Market)
Alcohol: 13.5%
Grapes: Verdejo
What we tasted and smelled: Rose, perfumey, mineral, apple, citrus, orange, honeydew melon, stone fruit, peach, stone, pith. Nice, clean, light. Fun at a party. Fun to talk about. Great wine for white wine lovers.Perfect party wine.
Food pairing with Verdejo: cheese platter, charcuterie board.
Rating: Joe 8 Carmela 9
Wine: Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Region: Italy, Abruzzo
Producer: Masciarelli
Year: 2018
Price: $11.99
Retailer: Town and Country Market (Central Market)
Alcohol: 13.5%
Grapes: Montepulciano
What we tasted and smelled: Plum, black cherry, juicy cherry, wood smoke, juicy, tannin, dry. Dried herbs. Tart fruit upfront, berries. Balanced. Amazing smell. Crowd pleaser.
Food pairing with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo: Versatile. Pizza, barbecue, grilled meats, grilled vegetables, other grilled foods. Baba Ganoush.
Rating: Joe 7 Carmela 7
Wine: Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut
Region: Washington, Columbia Valley
Producer: Chateau Ste. Michelle
Year: Non-Vintage (NV)
Price: $10.99
Retailer: QFC
Alcohol: 11.5%
Grapes: 63% Chardonnay, 19% Pinot Noir, 18% Pinot Gris
What we tasted and smelled: Apple juice, sparkling cider, green apple, yeast, bread, citrus, sour patch kids. Pleasant.
Food pairing with Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut Sparkling wine: Anything. All night. Cheese and crackers.
Rating: Joe 7 Carmela 8
Which one of these are you finishing tonight? Carmela - Domaine Ste. Michelle. Joe - Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Taste profiles expected from these wines: 39:42
And let’s see how we did with our tasting versus the so-called experts!
- Verdejo
- Citrus, lime, honeydew, grapefruit, grapefruit pith, fennel (licorice), white peach
- Grass, lemon, citrus blossom, saline, mineral
- Montepulciano
- Red plum, blackberry, dried thyme, baking spices, mesquite
- Wild cherry, ripe cherry, boysenberry, dried tobacco, thyme, oregano, chocolate, clove, and other peppery spices
- Sparkling Ste. Michelle
- Apple, green apple, yellow apple, pear, mineral, citrus - lemon or lime, grapefruit, toast, almond, bread, yeast
- Other tree fruits like apricot or peach, orange, lemon zest or lime zest (pith), baked goods (like baked bread)
Outro and how to find us 41:53
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Thanks for listening to the Wine Pair podcast, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine