Wine Occasion: Dinner Party / Housewarming Party

We can all agree that the only possible gift to bring to a dinner party is a bottle of wine. Anything short of that just won’t cut it. How about a bottle of Jack Daniels? Only if you are rocking leather chaps, dirt under your nails, and an uncontrollable beard. A six pack of Zima? You missed by a decade.

Face it – your friends are now sophisticated enough to have a place worthy of a dinner party, so they’ve probably left their sloppy evenings in the past. You should too and join everyone into maturity. To that end, let’s get drunk on wine.

Wine Suggestions:

$ White – Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

We’re going international with this selection, to New Zealand. New Zealand offers world class Sauvignon Blanc, and some find that this is the purest form of Suavignon Blanc. As I mentioned before, Suavignon Blanc is a great selection for lighter food, so you can pair your New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with the salad course. I’m sure that everyone else brought Napa Cap to the shindig, so everyone can drink that with the main course.

$ Red – Greg Norman Shiraz

Australia is making wines at a never-seen-before pace, and its annual wine production now compares to Italy and France. And some of it is actually good! Just kidding – Australia is renowned for its Shiraz (Australian for Syrah), with a flavor profile of luscious stone fruits and big body.

$$ White – Perrier Jouet Grand Brut Champagne

You might notice the strategy with my white wine selections for the dinner party is to have my wines consumed early in the meal. By bringing Champagne, everyone at the party will be consuming your Champagne as an appertif. You have unofficially served as the master of ceremonies, kicking things off with a great bottle of Champagne while regaling everyone of your jaunt through north France in your teens, picking grapes for the great Champagne houses by day and seducing widowed Champagne house owners by night. Or you can say that you thought that this bottle of Perrier Jouet looked cool because of all the pretty flowers on it.

$$ red – Ruffino Riserva Ducale Oro Chianti

Chianti is an Italian wine made from Sangiovese grapes. It pairs well with many foods and again, you get to appear continental. You can even make references to that summer you spent in the Tuscan countryside, picking grapes and making olive oil. But I digress. You typically should avoid the traditional chianti bottles in the straw basket – Italian men don’t wear handlebar moustaches anymore so you can buy modern Chianti.