One way to break up the madness that comes during Holiday season is to do something a little different, host a holiday themed wine and cheese tasting party. Here are some tips on throwing a good wine and cheese party.
Just gather several of your closest friends, wine, and a whole lot of unique types of cheese.
The perfect size for a seated tasting, in my opinion, is between 12-16 guests.
Pick seven Wines. Place all of the wines inside brown paper bags and assign a number. This way, no one would know which wine is being poured. Everyone will sip wines priced anywhere from $5.00 to $120.00.  Either provide all of the wine or another way to do it is to have everyone bring a bottle of wine of his or her choice. You can assign the type of wine, vintage, etc. as a guide so that the wines are all comparable. Then sample the wines in no particular order.
Nibble on many cheeses: For example; Midnight Moon, Humbolt Fog, Manchego, 5 Year Aged Gouda, Parmesan, English Cheddar, Stilton, and Guilloteau St. Angel. Cheeses like this will be absolutely delicious! Separate the cheeses by milk type: goat, cow, and sheep.
You’ll find that even friends who swore they strongly disliked certain kinds of cheese will happily fill up their plates with them. It just happens 😉

Serve  cold cuts, breads, crackers, fruit, and jams which are gluttonous pairings for the wines. For the jams, make sure you include included lavender honey, sweet mango chutney, and the very fashionable hot pepper jelly….maybe Pate too.
Printed score sheets on white, linen paper. Numbers 1-7 are added to rate each wine and the instructions were printed at the bottom of the page leaving plenty of space for note taking.
After everyone has a chance to feast a bit on all the delightful food, sit down and began to finally try each wine. Each place setting has 7 glasses. This will allow guests to go back and compare the wines.
What makes it so much fun is you have no idea what you are actually drinking.
After much sipping, debate, and laughter, tabulate the scores. The results get posted and listed from highest to lowest score.
You just never know what the result will be at a wine tasting event given everyone’s different palate. It sure is fun to find out! So, this year, do things differently and have a healthy, delicious, and memorable holiday season.
Here’s a quick idea for a wine list:
Col Solare ($60.00)
Caymus ($65.00)
Far Niente ($109.00)
Darioush ($90.00)
Faustino 1 ($25.00)
Yellow Tail ($8.00)
Tignanello ($80.00)