As The Lovin’ Spoonful sing “hot town, summer in the city…”
As the heat of summer is yet to come we’ve already started planning how we are going to have some fun with wine this summer.
With Memorial Day weekend fast approaching and our first guests due here at the lake arriving tomorrow we are in high spirits and say ‘bring it on’!
We love to have fun with wine all the time, but especially in the summer. As food for thought (and wine for drink) here are a few of our favorites:
Guest’s Pick Night: This actually might be my favorite. I put one slip of folded paper in a bowl for each adult at dinner. Only one has a “W” on it and each person picks a slip. We all unfold at the same time and the winner with the “W” gets to go to the wine cellar and pick the evening’s wine! Depending on the attendees, we have also done this as a couples draw with the winning couple getting to pick together.
Wine Theme Nights: When it’s a long holiday such as the 4th of July when we have lots of extended family for many nights I prepare each night’s wines based on a theme. Such as a Napa, France, or Italy Night, High Point Wines Night, SUADI* Night, Bubbly Night, Red Blend Night, etc. You get the idea.
* SUADI = “Shut Up and Drink It” is the night I get to pick my favorites.
Wines You’ve Never Had Night: I print out a list of all the varietals we have in our cellar. I pass the list around and each guest puts an ‘X’ by any varietals they have not tasted. The one with the most X’s is the winner and gets uncorked. In the case where everyone has tried all varietals I have, I have a backup. On this sheet I list our various red blends and use it the same.
Let the Dog Pick Night: For some reason our Labrador retriever, appropriately named Napa by the way, love to nose around our wine bottles. She also likes to lick my wine glass, but I won’t go into that here. I open the door and let Napa nose around among the bottles. There always seems to be one she is extra intrigued by so we grab that one for dinner!
Three-in-One Night: This one can get wonderfully adventurous! Into the bowl go slips of paper as with Guest Pick only this time there are three winners marked 1, 2 and 3. The winner with #1 on their slip gets to pick the pre-dinner/meal prep wine. Winner #2 picks the dinner wine. Winner #3 gets to choose the wine they want for after dinner.
Cheers to a great and fun wine-filled summer!