Yussss. Got to cross off something from my to do list by throwing a cheese and wine tasting party.

I suddenly had a free weekend so got together a few friends for a party on short notice. My geekiness was met with understanding and all the tasters were great sports at sharing their opinions on the cheese and wines. It’s not surprising that the opinions got more colourful as the bottles of wine emptied out.

Rules

• Bring a cheese or a wine that you have not tried before
• Budget $15

Some guests brought both cheese and wine and we ended up with 8 kinds of cheese, 6 kinds of wine as well as plenty of breads, crackers, antipasto and oils to share between 11 of us. I had a box of backup wine in case we ran out. Can’t have guests going thirsty!

We gathered around the dining table with wine glasses in hand and rotated around the table tasting each item until there was pretty much nothing left. We tasted everything once, going back for seconds, thirds and fourths for our favourites, or just to “make sure”. It was like a standing buffet of wine and cheese. It was great to be able to try different cheeses and wines side by side.

None of us are wine experts by any means and I think the creative tasting notes are reflection of these. I’ll be posting the notes we took on the cheeses tomorrow and the wines on Friday.

In the meantime, here are some photos of the evening.

Fridge magnet welcome.

Platters and tablecloth like real grown-ups.

Baguette, ciabatta, turkish bread and crackers.

Grove Avocado Oil: Extra Virgin, Chili, Lemon Pepper and Garlic.

Enthusiastic tasters.

Say cheese!

Boys get into the nitty gritty. Photo courtesy of Vanessa F.

Happy tasters. Photo courtesy of Vanessa F.

Every last drop was lapped up.

Mid-late frenzy.

Well done team! Photo courtesy of Vanessa F.