How to host a blind wine tasting at home

What a blind wine tasting is

A blind wine tasting is a tasting with the labels hidden. Nobody knows the grape, the producer or the price until the reveal, so every guess comes from what is in the glass: what it looks like, what it smells like, what it tastes like.

Competitions use it as a test: the South African Wine Tasting Championship hands its entrants anonymous samples and asks for the grape, the vintage and the producer. At home it is a game: the same hidden bottles, a short list of questions, and a winner at the end. The host decides how serious it gets.

1. Pick the wines: two or three is plenty

Two or three wines fill an evening. Each bottle is a round of about 20 minutes once everyone has tasted, argued and locked in a guess, so three bottles is roughly an hour of play. Most guides stop at four to six, because palates tire and guesses get lazy.

Mix them. One white and one red is the classic pair. With three, add a second red from a different grape, or put a Chenin Blanc against a Sauvignon Blanc so there is a real difference to find: Sauvignon smells of cut grass, Chenin of ripe pear and apricot. South Africa makes this easy. Chenin, Pinotage, Swartland Syrah and Stellenbosch Cabernet all taste like themselves.

Spread the prices. A R100 bottle next to a R200 bottle gives the guess-the-price round something to argue about.

2. Hide the labels properly

People recognise bottles by more than the label. Take the foil or wax off the neck, then cover the whole bottle: a paper bag, a sock, a numbered tasting bag, or a wrap of foil. Number each one and write the answers down somewhere the players cannot see. Do it before anyone arrives.

The host is allowed to know. If you would rather play too, that is what a box is for: the wines arrive sealed and numbered, and nobody at the table has seen a label.

3. Serve them right

Whites go in the fridge 20 to 30 minutes before you start. Reds are best just below room temperature; on a hot evening, that means a short spell in the fridge too. Taste light to heavy, whites before reds and lighter reds before big ones, so the first glass does not flatten the second.

One glass per person is fine. A sip of water between wines resets the palate. A tasting pour is small, so one box pours for a table of 10.

4. Ask the same questions every round

Give everyone the same short list, so the guesses can be compared. The Tasted game asks about colour, smell, taste, grape, vintage, region and price. On paper, that is a scorecard with seven lines per bottle.

If your table is new to this, three questions are enough:

• Does it smell like a fruit you know? Name it.
• Does it feel light or heavy in your mouth? Skim milk or full cream?
• Does it make your mouth water, like lemon, or feel dry, like strong tea?

Let people talk before they commit. The argument is the fun part.

5. Wine words, in plain English

Nobody needs the jargon, but five words come up every time. Here is what they mean.

Tannin

The dry, grippy feeling on your gums, like tea left too long in the mug. Big reds have more of it.

Body

How heavy the wine feels in your mouth, from skim milk to full cream.

Acidity

The fresh, mouth-watering zing, like biting a green apple.

Dry

Not sweet. Most reds and most whites are dry.

Finish

How long the taste hangs around after you swallow.

6. Score it and reveal

One point per correct answer, per wine. Reveal one bottle at a time, and let the table argue before the bag comes off. Keep a running total and crown a winner at the end. The prize is bragging rights, unless you organised one.

If a phone is doing the scoring, the reveal is where it earns its keep: every guess is locked before the label shows, so nobody can quietly change their mind.