Wine and cheese night with friends...

[Graphix]

Alright, so me and a few friends are thinking about doing a weekly or bi-weekly wine and cheese night. Im just looking for tips on making it run smoothly...how should i decide who brings what? things like that...

would appreciate input from whoever has done something like this.

thanks

Brendan

[RDCollins]

Two college pals and I spent 3 nights at the rental home one of my friends owns in Cambria, California. The weather wasn't too good so we mostly cooked and ate and drank wine, including several bottles of Malbec that one fellow had brought from Argentina, and several older bottles from my cellar.

Click here for a photo of the carnage.

[raxelita]

I like the idea of everone bringing a wine from their cellar, or one they drink often, and a cheese that they feel would suit it. From there you could go to category nights, where everyone brings a specific type of wine with a specific type of cheese i.e. fortified reds and blue, champagne and goat...

[Carolyn Tillie]

Two college pals and I spent 3 nights at the rental home one of my friends owns in Cambria, California. The weather wasn't too good so we mostly cooked and ate and drank wine, including several bottles of Malbec that one fellow had brought from Argentina, and several older bottles from my cellar.

Click here for a photo of the carnage.

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No, no, no... carnage would be bottles on their side and bodies waking in a drunken stupor, not knowing what hit them. Your picture has all your bottles neatly lined up, with corks! You obviously weren't wasted enough!

[Graphix]

well...the truth is none of us are real wine experts, and for the most part we are all just starting to wade into the world of wine... and none of us have cellars lol...

i have the advantage of being able to pay wholesale for any wines in the cellar of my family's restaurant... but besides that it will mostly be trips to the wine stores for bottles under 20$ and trips to the market for cheeses...

im thinking what i will try is to put everyones name in a hat and draw them out at random to decide who will bring wine,cheese, and snacks... and then just switch them the next week....

hmmm....i donno maybe actually coming up with 3 specific wines and 3 specific cheeses, then drawing names so that way i know there will be consistency between the cheeses and the wines, so we have correct pairings and a variety of wine...

going to have to think this out...

B

[RDCollins]

Two college pals and I spent 3 nights at the rental home one of my friends owns in Cambria, California. The weather wasn't too good so we mostly cooked and ate and drank wine, including several bottles of Malbec that one fellow had brought from Argentina, and several older bottles from my cellar.

Click here for a photo of the carnage.

←

No, no, no... carnage would be bottles on their side and bodies waking in a drunken stupor, not knowing what hit them. Your picture has all your bottles neatly lined up, with corks! You obviously weren't wasted enough!

←

But this was taken the morning after....

Count them, there are 13 1/2 bottles, 3 nights, 3 guys -- you do the math!

[RDCollins]

well...the truth is none of us are real wine experts, and for the most part we are all just starting to wade into the world of wine... and none of us have cellars lol...

Excuse me??? Please don't presume to speak for me, or for any9one else for that matter.

I've been drinking and collecting wine since 1966, and I do have a modest cellar of about 500 bottles. I may not be an "expert," but I goddamn well know what I like!

[Graphix]

eh...sorry, i think you misunderstood... i meant my friends and i are not experts and do not have wine cellars, didnt mean to imply that anyone on the forum here wasnt an expert or didnt have cellars. just mentioning that we dont have cellars so it will be mostly trips to the wine store to find bottles under 20$ sorry about the confusion.

B

[JohnL]

You need a bit of organization.

You can select the cheeses first and "match" the wines.

or

You can select the wines and match the cheeses.

Keep things simple! Six cheeses maximum--any more and it will be too easy to lose track of things.

Have fewer wines than cheeses (or have fewer cheeses than wines).

Have a "theme"--for eg taste a few cheeses of one type say goat cheeses then attempt to "discover" from a selection of wines which work best--have a vote then a discussion.

or try cheeses from a specific country with wines from that country.

provide a bit of interesting information about the cheeses and wines you will be serving--how they are made? where? etc. everyone should have fun and learn something.

the variations are as endless as the number of cheeses and wines available in the world!

most of all--have fun!

also--when you are putting one of these events together--get advice from

1--your local wine shop

2--your local cheese shop

These folks should be able to provide "expert" advice!

Get a book--there must be a dozen or so dealing with cheese that are good reference points.

By the way--I am not an expert--but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once!

[Graphix]

hey john...

so how can i create organization and still keep the costs split up between everyone, hopefully the idea was to make it so a few people pick up wines and a few pick up cheeses and it would switch each week. so should i tell people what they have to buy?? or just give them the themes and hope for the best... or tell one person they need to get a pinot noir, one a cab, one a merlot... etc... tell one person to get an aged dry cheese, another a soft blue, another a soft goat cheese...etc

hrmmm

B

[JohnL]

hey john...

so how can i create organization and still keep the costs split up between everyone, hopefully the idea was to make it so a few people pick up wines and a few pick up cheeses and it would switch each week. so should i tell people what they have to buy?? or just give them the themes and hope for the best... or tell one person they need to get a pinot noir, one a cab, one a merlot... etc... tell one person to get an aged dry cheese, another a soft blue, another a soft goat cheese...etc

hrmmm

B

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Best way is to take turns.

One person buys the cheeses and wines then split the costs (each pays an equal share).

Rotate the responsibility.

You could set the theme and buy the cheeses then have everybody bring a bottle of wine that they think would go well with the cheeses.

You could also just have each bring cheese and wine but you will end up with a lot of cheese and wine and no real focus. (not that this wouldn't be fun).

I just think it is more fun when there is a little thought behind these things.

People can vote on their favorite combinations and note those that don't work.

[gfron1]

I've been doing these on a much larger scale for almost 3 years now (125 members), but the key advice that I would give is don't over organize. Our joke ByLaws state very clearly that if the club ever becomes not fun, then the remaining money will be blown on a case of wine and the club dissolved. We also charge a membership fee of $10/year which you don't need to do, but it allowed us to have club funds up front to pay for things, then when folks buy cheese it pays for the next month (we do tastings and if people like it, they can buy it).

The other advice is prepare for when people ask to bring guests - we love them because its a chance at another membership, but they can also become leeches.

I like the idea of letting someone plan each party and picking the wine and cheese, and rotating the responsibility each month. I've tried to do that which gives more ownership of the club, and that translates into volunteers.

We're doing very different things, but feel free to PM me if you have questions or want to bounce ideas around.

Edited September 11, 2006 by gfron1 (log)

[Craig Camp]

Keep in mind that many (if not most) cheeses do not match very well with dry red wines. White wines, sweet wines and fortified wines are much more versatile when it comes to cheese.

[Bombdog]

Count them, there are 13 1/2 bottles, 3 nights, 3 guys -- you do the math!

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You call 3 guys drinking a bit over 4 bottles a night CARNAGE?

I've had some nights that would be considered Nuclear Meltdown by those standards

[RDCollins]

eh...sorry, i think you misunderstood... i meant my friends and i are not experts and do not have wine cellars, didnt mean to imply that anyone on the forum here wasnt an expert or didnt have cellars.  just mentioning that we dont have cellars so it will be mostly trips to the wine store to find bottles under 20$ sorry about the confusion.

B

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Oy, vey! What an idiot! I'm sorry -- I can't imagine how I misunderstood you. Sorry about that.

I'm old and I drink way too much.

[RDCollins]

Count them, there are 13 1/2 bottles, 3 nights, 3 guys -- you do the math!

←

You call 3 guys drinking a bit over 4 bottles a night CARNAGE?

I've had some nights that would be considered Nuclear Meltdown by those standards

←

Hey, ease off, bucko! We're old farts, and we did it three nights in a row. Took us a week to recover. Besides, we quaffed some good sh*t, and the food was awesome!

[tampabayrealtor]

I like having a "theme" to my wine parties. You can use:

- Country/region of wine origin

- Wine type (zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, pinot grigio, etc.)

- Winery

My personal favorite is by wine type so you can compare across brands, but I sometimes use the other formats in recognition of the fact that some people don't like every wine type (I do) and may be disappointed to find that the "wine of the evening" is not one they'll drink.

I think I'd let the purchaser of the wine provide the matching cheese. In my crowd, the cheese is not overly analyzed.

Just have fun. Good luck!

Laurie Kimball

Madeira Beach, FL

[JohnL]

Keep in mind that many (if not most) cheeses do not match very well with dry red wines.  White wines, sweet wines and fortified wines are much more versatile when it comes to cheese.

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Good points!

This is why I suggested applying some method and organization and getting some assistance (a book, advice from the cheese monger and/or wine shop clerks etc).

Just pairing wine and cheese haphazardly, makes little sense. Chaos can be fun for a few minutes but eventually promotes boredom!

[Rebel Rose]

Graphix, where do you live? (If you care to tell.)

If your group can befriend one or two good wine and/or cheese shops, you could start a 'cheese and wine registry' of sorts. The proprietors would be happy to order the cheeses you would like, and perhaps even tell their other customers (as they would have to place a minimum order) well, our local wine and cheese tasting group is tasting these selections this week . . .

Regardless, once your group starts up, I hope you will post your impressions and photos!

[Graphix]

im in upstate NY. Im going to talk to the guy who runs the local wine store about it, luckily they have a huge selection of wine and are very passionate about it. For cheese though, its mostly specialty markets manned by college kids, will have to search around and see if i can find anyone who knows their cheeses.

thanks

B

[goldie]

I'm in a book group that is really a wine group. We broke the alphabet in half and alternate who brings appetizers and who brings the wine. Sometimes among the wine group we break it into regions (then we actually have it coincide with what we are readin ie. Allende and Chilean wine). Other times we break it into groups. One thing I wish we had started eariler is an online log of what we had tasted and why it was good and what foods were really good with it. Now it is sort of hit or miss. One thing you might want to think about is your objective: do you want to get together just for each other's company and to enjoy wine or are you trying to learn about and experience many different kinds of wine? On some levels I'm assuming it will be both, but you might want to decide the focus better because it will affect the way you organize it. On the education front, we have visitors from local wine shops, a person who distributes wine from Chile, and a cheesemaker. It is really interesting and a lot of fun.

Good luck to you!

[JohnL]

im in upstate NY. Im going to talk to the guy who runs the local wine store about it, luckily they have a huge selection of wine and are very passionate about it. For cheese though, its mostly specialty markets manned by college kids, will have to search around and see if i can find anyone who knows their cheeses.

thanks

B

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I bet someone at your wine shop will be able to help you out with the cheese situation as well.

If you really get into this--you can access some great cheeses via the internet.

also IMOP--the best book on cheese (with wine pairing suggestions) is Steve Jenkins "Cheese Primer"--available in paperback I believe.

Have fun!

[Rebel Rose]

goldie, that is a great idea. I also have a book group that indulges in wine and food, but the only theme night we've had so far was for a review of Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires--Maureen Trevisan, owner of Linne Calodo Winery, made a dinner from recipes in the book.

When it's my turn, I'm thinking of recommending In the Merde for Love, and having my friends bring French wines and cheeses would get us in the mood for discussion.

Here's a link to an older thread with lots of great pairing suggestions: Wine and Cheese