How To Host A Cheese And Wine Tasting Party For New Year’s Eve

Wine and cheese parties are one of the most classic types of gatherings due to their versatility and fun. This is a great chance for you and your guests to try new types of wine and cheese, finding new favorites. Having your party on New Year’s Eve is even better as you don’t have to worry about it going too long or drinking too much wine - after all, everyone wants to be up until midnight or later anyway.

Formal Vs Informal

The first thing you have to decide is if you want your cheese and wine tasting party to be formal or informal. A formal party will typically be a sit-down affair. You will prepare plates of cheese with various glasses of wine and have them planned out, including which order to serve them in. Formal parties usually include breaks for discussion of each item between courses.

Informal cheese and wine tasting parties tend to be stand-up affairs and better for larger crowds. You would simply arrange various cheeses on platters with labels indicating their names, origins, and suggested pairings. Do the same for the wines at another station. You can either keep the cheese in one area and the wine in another or spread them throughout the space based on suggested pairings.

Select A Range Of Each

One of the most important aspects of hosting a cheese and wine tasting parties on New Year’s Eve is making sure that there is enough variety. You want to have at least three or four different cheeses and the same number of wines on hand. Make sure that there are cheeses of different ages, firmness, textures, and flavors. Don’t forget to include snacks such as fruit and nuts to cleanse the palate and help soak up some of the wine.

Considering Pairings

Perhaps the most stressful part of hosting a party for tasting wine and cheese is figuring out the pairings. Either ask an expert or find some guidelines online. Fresh cheese, such as ricotta, feta, mozzarella, goat cheese, and burrata, for example do best with wines such as Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio. If you want to keep it simple, then opt for a dry red or white wine. Champagne will work with most cheese as well, making it perfect for New Year’s Eve. Keep in mind, however, that there are no hard rules when it comes to cheese pairings. As long as guests are happy, they can eat whichever cheese with any of the wines on offer.

Have Guests Bring Items

A great idea to take some of the stress out of hosting a cheese and wine tasting party (especially on a big night like New Year’s Eve) is to ask your guests to bring some of the items. Either select a theme (such as a region the items should be from) or let them bring whatever they want. Just be sure that you divide up who brings cheese and who brings wine so there is enough of each.