Choosing Wines for the Holidays

Last night I had the opportunity to attend an event called Wines for the Holidays hosted by Vinocity.

I love wine. It, by far, is my go to drink of choice, but I don’t actually know anything about wine, I just know that I like to drink it. I haven’t made an effort to actively learn anything about wine because I don’t have a memory for details. Give me an equation and I can break it into a million pieces for you, rearrange it, and solve whatever you need according to units – tell me to remember a set of information that doesn’t include numbers and I’m hopeless. I can, however, remember stories.

Vicki Miller, the owner of the company and speaker at the event, knows her stuff.  Not only does she know her stuff, but she was able to tell story after story about the history of sparkling wines (like this story about Dom Perignon). And you know what? I remembered them when I walked out of class. And one of my favorite parts of the event was that as students walked in, Vicki greeted them all personally and it created such an awesome community feeling. I like people, what can I say?

Once storytime was over, Vicki shared some tips about holiday wine selection I wanted to share with y’all to make your holidays a little merrier (and easier).

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Choosing Wines That Please

If you’re buying wine for a party, it’s best to choose fan favorites to please the whole crowd.  The most popular white wine in the United States right now is Chardonnay and the most popular red wines are Zinfandel, Cabarnet Sauvignon, and Malbec.  Stick to those and there will almost definitely be something for everyone.

Adding Wine Variety

If you are buying wine for a large party, the breakdown of wines should be 2 types of white, 2 types of red, 1 type of rosé, and 1 type of sparkling wine. Of course, if you are having a smaller party, you should stick to one white and one red to simplify things. One day, I hope to live in a house big enough that I will need to buy 12 bottles of wine for a party, I’m just not quite there yet.

Saving Leftover Wine

Both red and white wine should be stored in the fridge. Don’t bother with the wine vacuum stoppers because the seal at the top isn’t all that tight and as you’re sucking the air out, a bunch of good flavors come with it. The name of the game here is to stop the wine from touching oxygen – that means don’t lay the bottle on its side because more of the wine will be exposed to the oxygen. Instead, consider transferring the wine to a smaller glass bottle (like the cute little perrier ones) to create minimal wine-to-oxygen surface area. (Yes, I’m an engineer.)

Vinocity hosts monthly wine tastings where you get to learn a little bit and drink a little bit.  If you are looking for something new and exciting to do in the city that you haven’t done before and you like wine even a little bit (or want enough knowledge to impress your friends or clients) you should definitely stay tuned for the next event by following the Vinocity facebook page. Vicki hosts monthly events and each one has a theme, last  night’s was sparkling wines, and I can’t wait to see what next month’s is.  See you there?

PS. This is not a sponsored post, I just happened to really enjoy myself and wanted to share.