Our friends at Food & Wine gave us tips for saving time and skipping stress.
The winter chill has set in, piles of gifts have been purchased, and you’ve carefully planned the multi-course menu for your upcoming annual holiday party. But while you’ve been stressing over which meats to fan out on that charcuterie board, one thought may have slipped your mind: the beverages. How much wine should you buy? Should you resign yourself to washing and polishing infinite glasses, or do you stoop to a frat-party-esque plastic cup situation?
Luckily for us, our friends over at Food & Wine have just published executive wine editor Ray Isle’s tips for serving wine at a holiday party. Let’s get sipping.
Avoid buying individual bottles of wine
Planning to run out to a generic grocery store to pick out a random assortment of vino? Empty that shopping cart. According to Isle, buying by the case gets you a better bang for your buck: “When you buy twelve bottles at a time, you’ll usually get a discount — 10 percent is common.” Not sure where to get a case? Find a local speciality wine shop: “Most wine shops will let you buy a mixed case,” Isle writes, which means you can play with different flavors and styles. The wine won’t go bad, so if your guests don’t make a dent in your stash, you can use the extra bottles as gifts, or store them for your next soiree. If you’re overwhelmed even thinking of how to put a case together, Isle has some tips.
Nix the corks
When you’re hosting, there’s always something to do. You’ve got to pull a roast from the oven, fetch bags of ice, fiddle with your stereo, put out more napkins…need we go on? The last thing you need to do is spend precious moments uncorking individual wine bottles: “Consider screw-top bottles for affordable party wines,” Isle advises. “Compared to wines sealed with corks that require a corkscrew, and baseline knowledge on how to use a corkscrew, screw-top wines are super-quick to open.”
Keep your guests in mind
“Holidays are for making people happy,” Isle smartly reminds us, “not educating them about your personal taste.” So if you have a palate for ridiculously sour white wines, keep in mind that your friends and neighbors might not share your enthusiasm. Curating a crowd-pleasing selection is part of your job — though you can always pick up one bottle of your niche fave for the open-minded to sample.
Rent — don’t buy
Exhausted at the thought of rinsing lipstick off of a dozen glasses? Instead, consider renting wine glasses from a party-supply company. “They get delivered before the party, they get picked up afterward, and you don’t have to wash them,” says Isle. “though some companies have a ‘return dirty’ fee.” If toiling post-party isn’t your style, renting glassware means you won’t have to resort to disposable Solo cups. (And it’s a much more environmentally friendly move, too.)
Non-drinkers deserve fancy mocktails
If you’re not a drinker, you’re probably used to clutching a flat seltzer or plain soda at a party. Isle reminds us that choosing not to partake in wine isn’t a crime, and shouldn’t feel like a punishment. “Extra seltzers on hand are great to have,” Isle writes, “but even better is having a cool, tasty n/a drink like a non-alcoholic champagne spritz to serve your eight-months-pregnant cousin.” Even your friends who do imbibe will likely appreciate the chance to take a break from wine to sip on something special that just happens to be zero-ABV.
Don’t stress about pairings
Most of us know that certain foods are enhanced by specific wines, and vice versa. But where should you begin at a potluck or bigger feast where various delicacies are on the table (literally)? Isle writes, “Planning in advance and choosing delicious wines that go with a broad range of foods will help keep you sane,” he cautions. “It’s a holiday party, remember, not a dinner for wine collectors.” Unless, of course, all of your personal besties are sommeliers (in which case, maybe stress a little). Still want specific guidance? Isle has a list of the best budget-friendly holiday wines, too.
Chill that champagne (or else)
Isle cautions that warm champagne isn’t just less delicious than its frosty counterpart, it’s also liable to foam over and spray the floor or — even worse — your guests. He gives specific instructions for getting your bubbly nice and cold: “Place bottles in a refrigerator for two hours before serving, in the freezer for 45 minutes — don’t forget they’re in there! — or sink them in a bucket filled with half ice and half water to chill things down ultra-fast, in 20 minutes or so.”
Buy enough for everyone
Not sure how many bottles you need? Isle provides a rubric to help with this tricky mental math: “Take the number of guests and divide by two to get the number of bottles you’ll need — assuming two glasses of wine per person, which is standard.” And there’s no harm in buying a few bottles more “just in case” — any spares can be used during your next celebration.
