Be Wine Challenge

My parents made a big deal out of birthdays and holidays while I was growing up. We do love a party. When I was wanting to do this wine tasting challenge, I thought how great it would be to decorate around Valentine's Day if it fell on a weekend. And it did. So I did. It was the best of both worlds...pink & red hearts and wine tasting with a twist.
Evite is a great tool. I found a valentine evite titled Be Wine. And just like that, the party was named - Be Wine Challenge.

Each person brought a Cabernet of their choice and contributed $5 to the pot. We blind tasted the wines and scored them. The winner took home the pot. This was serious business and optimal temperature was necessary. I picked up the wines from all contestants the night before and chilled them in the wine fridge. We pulled them out to breathe, before everyone arrived, and served them at the optimal 60-65 degrees serving temp. You can also put red wine in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to reach that temperature. Each bottle was labeled A-J and corresponded with the score card.

There were 5 couples, and each couple had their own heart dish full of mini table water crackers to cleanse the palette in between wines and another heart dish full of mini chocolate morsels. Each person had a score card I created in Publisher, a pen, wine tasting glass and water bottle to rinse out their glass. A tub was placed in the middle for all to pour waste into. I used the same 1 oz pourer on each bottle. This was super helpful, especially when you're tasting 10 wines.

I wanted to make use of the entire countertop, so I had a 1/4" thick sanded plywood from Home Depot cut down to cover the entire sink. Then I spray painted it black to blend with the counter color. I stuck rubber grippers from Target to the back to keep it from sliding. It worked like a charm and only cost 15 bucks for everything.

The simple menu consisted of:

Salami and cheese with table water crackers
Homemade chocolate covered strawberries
Heart shaped sugar cookies
Chips and homemade queso (no velveeta here)
Shrimp wrapped in snow peas
The shrimp were a hit. It's a recipe my mom started making for parties in 1990. It's been served at countless baby showers, parties and events.

I was impressed with the salami recommendation from the HEB deli and wanted to share.

Everyone had a blast and wants it to be an annual thing. And I do love traditions. There was a lot of talk about doing it in the summer with Chardonnay. Any excuse for a party!

Wine tasting glasses - FoodServiceWarehouse.com

Black heart stickers - Hobby Lobby
Red letters - Hobby Lobby
XOXO sign - Home Goods
Paper lunch bags on bottles - HEB
String around bottles - Michaels
Ceramic heart dishes - Home Goods
1 oz pourer - FoodServiceWarehouse.com
Be My Valentine sign - Hobby Lobby