Take your holiday parties online with a Virtual Wine Tasting Party! Gather your girlfriends and set up a recurring online meet-up to celebrate the season while sipping some wine.
A wine advent calendar makes it super easy to try new wines and makes a great gift idea for your girlfriends, near and far. Host your own online wine tasting with these easy tips and ideas
This is a sponsored post about how to throw an online wine-tasting party written by me on behalf of Albertsons. All opinions are 100% mine. Must be of legal drinking age to enjoy. Please drink responsibly.
I'm a huge wine fan, but at the holidays it can be tricky to get friends together. A virtual wine-tasting party is a great option for sipping wine with friends without leaving your home!
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Host A Virtual Wine Tasting with friends
While you may not be going to or hosting huge Christmas parties this year, you can still entertain from home!
A Virtual Wine Tasting is a fun way to get your friends together and try new wines. While I loved having friends over for my rosé tasting, this way no one has to worry about finding a sitter.
It's easy to set up and is a fun way to make the holiday feel festive and spend time (via computer screen) with your closest friends.
Related post: Wine and Essential Oils party
What I love about this recurring wine-tasting idea is that you can use it to make time for yourself during the busy holiday season.
Chatting with your friends will help you ease stress, share laughter and maybe even help you with holiday gift ideas that you're struggling with.
And it's super easy to plan!
How to plan your wine-tasting party online
It's literally as easy as setting up an online call. But to make it feel special, here are a few things you can do to host a fun party from your own home.
Use a wine advent calendar
Albertsons (my local grocery store) offers a wine advent calendar which makes hosting a wine tasting at home so easy!
It has 24 different wines from California, Washington and Oregon, including the prestigious wine-making areas in each state (California's Paso Robles, Washington's Columbia Valley and Oregon's Willamette Valley).
Starting on December 1, you can open your wine calendar and try one of the 187 ml bottles of wine each day leading up to Christmas.
There are no duplicate wines in the box so each day is truly a new experience. The box includes 13 reds, 9 whites and 2 rosés.
I love this because if you prefer one type of wine, this is a great, no-commitment way to try some new things.
The wine advent calendars are exclusive to a selection of Albertsons family of stores only. I shopped at my local Albertsons store but they're also available at Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Safeway, Tom Thumb and Vons near you.
They usually hit the store shelves in October and are a limited edition item so grab them when you see them!
Not only is the box itself nice looking, but each bottle has a well-designed label too. It's totally gift-worthy.
And as you try a new wine each day, you can Visit www.24daysofwine.com to learn more about each wine and the region it's from.
On the site, you'll also find additional pairing/tasting suggestions.
This is such a great way to learn and taste plus share the experience with friends.
Invite your friends
While typically a wine tasting doesn't last 24 days, this one can!
You can keep it as simple as sending a group text or make it feel more like a traditional holiday party by emailing a virtual invitation.
If you and your friends exchange holiday gifts, you can even kick off the fun by sending an Albertsons gift card.
Who wouldn't love to get 24 bottles of wine?!
Set a schedule
With a new wine to try each day, you can either jump online for a chat each evening or pick one night a week to sample a few of the wines.
I've had a wine advent calendar in the past and it can be very hard to have wine every night.
Check with your friends and see what works best for everyone.
Have a group text where you can figure out who is free to taste a little wine together each night or set a schedule and save your daily wines until then.
Have snacks on hand
Wine tasting is a really fun thing to do but we always want to make sure to be responsible.
Send a list of easy snacks for your friends to keep on hand so they'll always have something to nibble on while sipping a new wine.
Albertsons has everything you need to create the perfect snack cupboard. Their exclusive brands like O Organics®, Open Nature®, and Signature SELECT™ offer a wide variety of options.
I picked up everything from simple potato chips (which pair really well with white wine) to popcorn and a dark chocolate trail mix which are fantastic with reds.
Some snack ideas to pair with wine:
- Dried fruit
- Trail mix
- Crispy Chickpeas
- Popcorn
- Veggies and Hummus
- Potato Chips
- Pretzels
If your friends are local to you, you could even put together a little snack basket and include the gift card to purchase the advent calendar.
Albertsons also offers Grocery Delivery and Drive Up & Go™ for super easy ways to shop for your tastings.
Plan a few simple activities
While you can just pop online and sip wine with your girlfriends, one of the best parts of wine tasting is learning all about the wine.
Start off each tasting with a trip to 24daysofwine.com to learn more about each bottle.
Suggest that your friends always have a notebook handy so they can make notes about what they like and what they don't.
They can also make notes on pairings based on the information on the website.
Next, take the time to learn even more about each other. I have a book that has prompts you can ask each other.
It's a great way to open up new conversations and create opportunities for laughter.
For the last few months I've been having weekly online happy hours with some friends and it has been such a great way to feel connected.
As we head into the holidays, a virtual tasting party is a perfect way to celebrate the season, friendship and delicious wine.
A virtual wine-tasting party might be your favorite holiday party experience yet!
Shop the Wine Advent Calendar at your local Albertsons.
Tips
- You can still host a virtual wine tasting if you don't use a wine advent calendar. Simply pick a few wines, that would be easy for your friends to find as well, and give them a deadline to buy them. Then plan the rest as you would above.
- Of course, you can always host this in person if schedules allow. The little bottles from the wine advent calendar are still a great way to try a bunch of wines.
- If you feel overwhelmed there are a bunch of services you can hire to host the virtual wine tasting for you. You will just need to buy their wine and coordinate all the details with them. Prices will vary.
More wine posts
- Check out this fun Open House Style Wine Tasting idea.
- Serve these Sauvignon Blanc Jello Shots as a fun treat at your party.
- Have a wine lover in your life? I've gathered tons of Gift Ideas for Wine Lovers.
- How to Infuse Wine with lemon and herbs.
- Winc Wine Club is awesome and another great resource for buying wine.
- Wine Cocktails to make at home.
- Use these Printable Wine Labels to give an easy gift to a friend having a bad day.
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