Posted by Phyllis Cambria, The Special Events Group of South Florida on September 20, 1999 at 22:36:39:

In Reply to: Dinner party/Wine tasting contest posted by kareena on September 15, 1999 at 07:23:38:

Hi Kareena!

Sounds like a great idea for your husband's party.

Since the main entertainment is wine, why not go with a vineyard theme? Perhaps a French countryside cafe (or Italian, or even Californian).

You can either do the blue and white checkered tablecloths or go with the elegant linens. Perhaps a linen with a grape or wine bottle motif would be nice.

Have grapes coming from the candlesticks, use grape leaves to in your centerpiece displays. In fact, use different types and colors of grapes as the centerpieces themselves, perhaps spilling out of an urn.

You can find wine packing crates and display those around your room as well.

Maybe you'll want to start early and put up a trellis in your yard and have grapevines growing on it (or, in a pinch, silk vines would work well too).

If your budget will allow, and you can find a service in your area, maybe you'd like to start the evening off with a hot air balloon ride for, at the least, you and your husband. Guests can join if they want to pay their own way (if you can't afford to offer them the ride.) But champagne is generally served to those folks to take the ride, so maybe you can have a champagne toast for everyone watching your husband's flight when he returns with cheese and canapes as the first course before returning home for the dinner portion of the meal.

Serve wine-based dishes like Chicken Veronique (chicken in wine with grapes). Do a little research and you'll find lots of recipes - even for dessert - with a wine base.

In fact, instead of doing the wine tasting AFTER the dinner, why not make the wine tasting DURING the meal. You can key the wines to the dishes. Just be sure to have lots of water for guests to cleanse their palates in between courses. If you don't have enough wine glasses, either borrow them or rent them.

In fact, check to see if you can hire a somalier for the evening. Perhaps he/she can give you all a little primer on the wine that is being served with each course. (Just remember to keep quantities small with each course. Otherwise, people may start to become intoxicated and won't get to enjoy your meal. You also might want to make sure there are either designated drivers and/or a cab service to take care of guests.)

For prizes, you can give a bottle of good wine; a coffee table book on the history of wines; or a guide to fine wines from various regions; a carafe for decanting wines; there are beautiful wine holders in everything from sterling silver to terracotta. You also can probably find the sheepskin wine bags shepherds used.

Hope this gives you some ideas you can use. Have fun!

Phyllis Cambria
The Special Events Group of South Florida

Follow Ups:

• Re: Dinner party/Wine tasting contest Karolina Betancourt 11/09/01 (0)
• Moonlight and Music Wine Tasting Karolina Betancourt 11/08/01 (0)
• Re: Dinner party/Wine tasting contest Carole 08/17/00 (0)

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