Host a 6-Course Italian Wine Pairing Dinner

Listen to Chrystina talk you through how she hosted (and delegated tasks for) a 6-course, 8-person Italian wine pairing dinner party in Episode 09 of the Party Ideas & Logistics with Chrystina Noel podcast, above.

Well, y’all. I did a thing. And I definitely didn’t do it alone. I put together a wine tasting dinner. Definitely the fanciest party I’ve ever hosted, and the highest per person cost, but absolutely worth it.

That said. I’m going to tell you the moral of the story right now. Ruining the ending right here. Never, EVER host a six course meal on a Friday night when you work a 9-5 job and have a training all day on Friday that you can’t get out of. I’m definitely one of those people who has to learn everything the hard way.

Every so often Ben and I go to the Vinocity Events wine tastings. They’re pretty fabulous, and Vicki, who leads them all, is also pretty fabulous. I thought it would be fun to host a dinner with wine pairings, took the idea to Vicki, and we made it happen. I’d only ever done this once before. I was in Lake Tahoe and I think I was 20-years-old. Lucky for me they still let me drink.

The Plan

Once I realized what I had committed myself to – a SIX course meal – I realized two things:

1. I was going to have to choose a type of cuisine that I knew I had a handle on. The verdict? Italian. Clearly.

2. I was going to need to delegate. There was no way I was going to be able to do all of this on my own. Especially on a Friday night.

Yes, I realize I made up the number 6 myself, so I could have changed it, but who doesn’t love a good challenge?

Planning the Menu

I took a look at every fancy meal I’d ever been to (and every family holiday I’d ever attended) and realized the menu should look loosely like this:

• Appetizer

• Soup/Salad

• Pasta

• Entree

• Dessert

And just for good measure I threw a cheese course in there between entree and dessert.

The Appetizer

What’s an Italian meal with out caprese? That was a no brainer. It’s also super easy to assemble. My other favorite appetizer is prosciutto-wrapped melon. Also super easy to assemble. Both of these can be made ahead of time too.

The Soup or Salad

I decided to go with a soup instead of a salad, mostly because Ben and I had recently visited the Kennett Square mushroom festival and got an incredible cream of mushroom soup recipe (courtesy of the Desmond Hotel). Admittedly, it was probably the most expensive thing on the menu. So worth it.

Pasta

Every good Italian meal has a pasta course. I decided on penne alla vodka. The sauce can be made ahead of time too, which worked really well. Super cost efficient too.

Entree

I delegated the entree to Ben. I knew it was going to be fish, but we eventually decided on swordfish because it was a heavy enough fish that we could pair it with red wine. (We also served it with tomatoes and garlic, which helped with that.)

Cheese Course

I was so excited, y’all. I’ve never made one of those fancy cheese plates before. I got to buy all sorts of cheese accompaniments to go with it too. I couldn’t quite bring myself to schmear the dabs of fig jam and honey on the board though. I just put the jar of honey out with the cheese plate.

Dessert

I delegated out the tiramisu to Stephen. He did, after all, win Star Baker of the summer.

The Budget

Now, this is not your typical party. This is a party I could host maybe once a year. It was my present to myself for getting a bonus at work (we’re going to pretend that’s a normal use of bonus money, okay?). Here’s a rough estimate of what the breakdown looked like by catgeory:

The Food

• Appetizers: $38

• Soup: $54

• Pasta: $24

• Swordfish: $51

• Cheese Course: $20 (accompaniments) + $34 (cheese)

• Wine: $72.76

The total came to about $300 for 8 people, not including the bread or dessert. So maybe $350. Think of it as going out to a really nice dinner. That said, there are definitely a few ways you can save money.

Decor

I was debating whether or not I should decorate the table and Ben pointed out that we were probably going to need all the room we could get on the table for food, so that wasn’t an option. I did decide to buy a nice new tablecloth and some place mats, which came to a total of $40. I also had to buy an extra set of dishes (which I had been meaning to do for a while, which came to $40-ish.

We did decide that it would be okay to decorate the mantle though, and lucky for me the Plum Deluxe crew had some thoughts on one of my Instagram posts. They mentioned that mums would look really great against the blue wall. So I went to Trader Joe’s, spent $15, and that’s exactly what I did:

I also decided at 2:00am on Thursday night / Friday morning that I needed an infographic to go with the meal. (Unclear if at this point I was delusional or just waiting for the soup to cool before I could put it away.) But here’s the masterpiece I came up with:

Ways to Save Money

Yes, I realize the best way to save money is just not host this party, but if you do decide to host it, here are some suggestions to save some money:

• We looked at the wines Ben had already bought and had Vicki choose as many bottles of wine as she could (within reason) from that pile. And while I realize this still counts as money spent, I at least felt like we were using something we already had.

• Really look at the recipes and determine how much of everything you need. I ended up buying double the amount of mushrooms I needed because I didn’t realize I was going to be halving the recipe. They were pretty expensive. I also bought way too much parsley. I could have saved probably $20-$25 if I had done my math right the first time.

• Remember that by serving 6 courses you don’t need quite as much of each course as you would if you were only having that course. I forgot this and bought double the amount of mozzarella I needed.

• Delegate, delegate, delegate. My friends were wonderful and asked what they could bring before I even ask them to bring something. The easiest things to delegate are:

  • Appetizers and desserts: I delegated the tiramisu because I knew we had a fabulous baker in the group.

  • Cheese: It can be pretty expensive and it’s easy to transport. I just made sure to tell my friend what types to show up with (or at least give her the wines it should pair with to tell the cheese monger).

  • Bread: Bread is something that seems simple, but it’s something I would have driven myself crazy over. I would have tried to squeeze it in during the absolute last minute possible on Friday to make sure it was as fresh as it could have been. And when you’re supposed to be cooking, you don’t have time to be running around the city looking for fresh bread.

• Borrow what you can. I could have bought an extra table to be able to seat everyone, but instead I went on a Buy Nothing, Sell Nothing Facebook group and borrowed a card table from someone.

• Buy stuff from the bulk aisles. I bought nuts for the cheese tray from the bulk aisle, which was at least a little cheaper than buying a large bag. I even over bought them, so I could have lowered the cost even more. I also could have simplified the cheese plate. I even forgot to cut the apple.

• One decision I did make was keeping the number of people at 8, it was low enough that we could get just one bottle of each wine and everybody could try a decent amount of each wine still – and we didn’t have to open a second bottle.

The Schedule

This is where it gets a little crazy. In order to buy everything that we needed for the dinner, Ben and I alone visited 6 different stores 7 times.

The Shopping Schedule

• Monday night: The Giant run in the suburbs. We got all of the things that we knew would last a few days in the refrigerator and mushrooms I wasn’t sure I was going to find anywhere else at a cheaper price.

• Tuesday evening: I stopped at the liquor store for the vodka for the penne alla vodka. I stopped at MOM’s Organic Market to get accompaniments for the cheese tray. I stopped at DiBruno Brothers to get proscuitto for the appetizers.

• Wednesday morning: I went to go buy the remainder of the mushrooms so that I could start making the soup Thursday.

• Wednesday night: Ben went to buy the swordfish so that it would be fresh for Friday.

• Thursday afternoon: I stopped at Trader Joe’s to buy flower decorations and basil.

The Preparation Schedule

The shopping schedule and preparation schedule are definitely two different things, very well-woven, but very different.

• Sunday Night: Make the shopping list and the basic schedule of what I thought the week was going to look like.

• Tuesday: Start setting the table.

• Wednesday: Finish setting the table.

• Thursday: Make the vodka sauce and complete 75% of the mushroom soup making process. Decorate the mantel and make an infographic at 2:00am.

• Friday: Make appetizers, make pasta, finish the mushroom soup, set out items for the cheese tray, and clean the bathroom (I couldn’t believe I had time to do this).

Ben prepared the swordfish on Friday. Stephen made the tiramisu Thursday night. Bread showed up on Friday. Cheese showed up on Friday.

Now, I’ve got to tell you. Friday could have been a lot worse. Between delegating and choosing items that could mostly be made ahead of time, it worked out really well. I even had time to shower, which never happens.

I did all of the dishes as I went, and two friends actually did all the dishes throughout the course of the meal, which was incredible. I’ve got good friends, man.

The Final Pairings Menu

• Start: Bel Casel Proseco

• Food: Caprese & Prosciutto-Wrapped Cantaloupe
  Drink: Lambrusco di Sorbara

• Food: Cream of Mushroom Soup
  Drink: Bricco Roero Arneis

• Food: Penne Alla Vodka
  Drink: Brunori Torquis Rosso Piceno

• Food: Swordfish & Roasted Tomatoes
  Drink: Rosso di Montalcino

• Food: Cheese Plate (Sapore del Piave, Pondini Nababbo, Abbaye de Belloc)
  Drink: Gardoni Mael

• Food: Tiramisu
  Drink: Moscato d’Asti

Working with a Wine Expert

So not only did we cook the meal, but we worked with Vicki to come up with the pairings. I sent her the menu and she chose the wines. Then she came to dinner (we made sure to set her a seat at the table!) and she talked us through each one of them – a little background about the wine, what sorts of things you should be tasting for, and stories about wine production in general. It was a really fun conversation and great to compare wines and how they taste with different types of food.

A few things we made sure we did:

• Started with sparkling wine, it’s always good to give your guests something to do when they arrive. Like drink wine.

• Started with lighter foods and eased into heavier foods to be able to get a few reds in the middle before heading back to whites for dessert

• Chose a variety of wines that each had something unique about them

As I said, definitely not something I could do for every party, but it was fun to be swanky for an evening, and absolutely glad we did it!

What I Would Do Differently Next Time

Admittedly, this party went off without a hitch, which was great. There are, however, still a few things I would do differently next time.

• Have the party on a Saturday instead of a Friday.

• Ask people what they do and don’t eat before they show up. I usually do this, but for some reason I didn’t this time. May have done one or two things differently if I had asked ahead.

• Pay attention to the cost savings tips listed above. I definitely could have easily saved $50 if I had just planned a little bit harder.