Host a Labor Day Weekend Wine Tasting

Do you ever get tired of holiday weekends rolling around and you have no plans? I do! I mean, we only have so many holidays in a year, we should be doing something fun, right? If you’re lucky enough to have friends who host a lot of BBQs and cocktail parties, then you’re probably covered, but what if you go year after year through the same holiday weekends with nothing to do? It gets old. You might just have to take matters into your own hands. How about hosting a Labor Day Weekend wine tasting?

The beauty of any 3-day weekend is that you have three days and three evenings to choose from when deciding when to have your party. With Labor Day Weekend, I think the perfect time to host a party is Sunday evening. There’s already a lot going on on Saturdays and Monday there are likely to be BBQs and family get-togethers, but you choose the day and time that works best for you.

Then follow the planning tips below to put together a fantastic Labor Day Weekend Wine Tasting that won’t soon be forgotten.

Guest List: You want to keep it small for a wine tasting. No more than 10 guests, including yourself. How about all of your single friends? Or a specific group, like your volleyball team or old coworkers you haven’t seen in a while?

Invitations: Create an Evite or similar digital invitation with a wine-themed template.

Food/Beverages: You’ll want an assortment of wines, from whites to reds to roses, even sparkling and dessert wines. You could ask each guest to sign up for a specific type of wine, such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, merlot or cabernet sauvignon. Then you can prepare small bites to accompany each wine. Look online for food pairings to get ideas of what to make.

Or you could even ask each guest to choose their favorite bottle to bring and to prepare an appetizer to go along with it. Either way, you’ll want to have some additional bottles on hand and some more food for after the tasting portion of the evening is over.

Don’t forget to have plenty of water and other non-alcoholic beverages on hand so your guests can stay hydrated and have something to take with them for the ride home.

Activities: This is where the tasting portion of the evening comes in. Find out what bottle each of your guests is bringing and do a little research online to find out a bit about it. Write up some notecards with information about the wine, such as country of origin, geographic location, wine region, vintage, grape varietals (if it’s a blend), and of course what your guests can expect to taste – minerality, earthiness, fruit notes, etc. You can then regale your guests with this knowledge as you pour each of them a tasting and serve them a bite to go along with it.

You can also have guests talk about their wine tasting excursions, if they’ve been on any, or favorite wineries or bottles.

You might even want to create a wine trivia game (you may be able to find questions online) and the guest who answers the most questions correctly wins a special bottle.

Party Favors: Don’t forget to send each guest home with a little token of appreciation for coming. A wine stopper, corkscrew, set of coasters, wine charms, even a wine&food pairing guide that you print out from online would be good reminders of the fun evening they had at your place.