There's a tasting fee per person, determined by the wines for the month. President Yolanda Hunt says the club is growing, drawing between 20 and 25 tasters to each tasting, and looking for new best-buy wines and themes throughout the year. Loose themes such as Bargain Wines, Bordeaux vs. New World Wines and Loire Valley Wines are chosen with four or five selections per tasting. Other private wine tasting groups exist throughout the Roanoke area and have been formed by friends, neighbors and even church groups. The sales staff in local wine shops is a good resource for information on private groups or can offer guidance in choosing wines for your own group.
Wine tastings can be a great excuse to get together with friends for a fun evening.
If you only want a chance to taste different wines, starting this kind of group is as easy as making a few phone calls and setting a time and place. Having everyone bring a favorite wine, no matter what it is, can be fun, but you can learn a lot more about a wine when you compare and contrast it to other similar wines. Arrange the wines in the order to be tasted, lightest to heaviest, then wrap each bottle in a paper bag, sealed with a rubber band at the neck, and number each bag without the other tasters knowing the contents. Tasting more than this in one sitting will deaden your taste buds and you won't really learn or remember a lot about the wines. Try to sample the wines without food for the first tasting, then finish the bottles with a meal or wine-appropriate heavier snacks to discover the difference in the wines with and without food.