Show and Tell: Wine Tasting Party

Today is exciting because it is another edition of Show and Tell Tuesday! This assignment is to share with you my absolute favorite party I have hosted. I. Love. Hosting. Parties.

When I started brainstorming my absolute favorite party, I came up with  these Top 3:

1. At Work Wedding Shower (Honeymoon Beach theme) for one of my would be later bridesmaids

2. In Home Bachelorette Shower (Traditional pink, black and white theme) for another bridesmaid

3. Historic Downtown Wedding Shower (Vintage Floral theme) for my Matron of Honor

All of these are based around weddings! (It's a theme in a theme!!) Anyways, when I went to dig out the photos for any of my Top 3 and I couldn't find them anywhere. What a pity.  

Well, while searching, I did find some photographs from another fun event that I never shared with you... Wedding Wine Tasting Choosing with my bridesmaids. 

Let's get this party started! (See what I did there?!)

When Husband and I were planning our wedding reception, the debate of whether or not to serve alcohol was quite a discussion. Our guests came from different faiths, states, and parts of our lives. We wanted everyone to be comfortable and have a good time so we decided to keep things simple with beer, wine, ice tea, water, and root beer. 

When it came time to choosing the beer, it was an easy decision. We went with the Texas brewed beer, Shiner Bock and their summer brew, Ruby Red.

The wine choices turned out to be a bit harder, so I decided to call in the troops, my bridesmaids, for a little wine tasting.  

I headed up to our local Market Street where I knew the wine sommelier was highly recommended. He helped me pick out 4 red and 4 white wines based within the budget we had allotted for the cost per bottle. 

At the store, I also picked up all the things that accompany a good glass of wine; grapes, apples, carrots, snap peas, crackers, and an assortment of cheeses.  

Even though our wedding reception wasn't until June, we wanted to get a better idea of our budget early on. I held the party in December and decided to match the rest of the house with Christmas plates and napkins. 

I lined up the 4 bottles of red and 4 bottles of white wine on the counter. Every bottle label was hidden inside a brown lunch sack. If the bottle was a red wine, it was tied at the top with a dark ribbon. If the bottle was a white wine, it was tied at the top with a light ribbon. 

I traced the bottom of a wine glass onto each paper sack using a dark marker. Inside each circle I labeled the sacks 1-8. After trying a bit from each bottle, the girls wrote down what they thought on individual pieces of paper. (I wish I had a photo of this but you could easily make your own ranking sheet)

Towards the end of the night, we went over our thoughts and ranked the bottles together. After finding out the majority favored bottles #6 and #4, I opened the brown sacks to reveal the winners. 

Ironically, the chosen white and red were both from the same label! Gabbiano ended up being the wine Husband and I served at our wedding reception. 

Picking wines for the wedding reception ended up being the perfect excuse to get together with some of my dearest friends. There was lots of laughter, a baby announcement (no wine there!), and a great way to relax with a girl's night. It was wonderful to spend time with the bridesmaids away from the stress and pressures of wedding planning!

How did you choose what drinks to serve at your wedding reception?

Has anyone tried Gabbiano wines?

Happy Cinco di Mayo,






Linking up with Andrea today! Professional photos by Amanda Lynn. Check out her page here!