Gezelligheid - Early Birthday Wine Tasting

Gezelligheid is the perfect word to describe Saturday night. 

Gezelligheid is a Dutch abstract noun which, depending on the context, can be translated as convivial, cozy, fun, quaint, or nice atmosphere, but can also connote belonging, time spent with loved ones, the fact of seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness that gives a warm feeling.

Family photo before the party

This year I wanted to celebrate my birthday with my family a little early. Last year I tried to plan a wine and cheese party, but everyone had Christmas parties around my birthday, so we couldn't coordinate a date!

I picked a date and started planning over a month ago! Saturday, November 28 was the day. 

I had already decided that this would be a blind tasting wine and cheese party, so I took to Pinterest to figure out the details! I came across this link, and really liked their idea. 

I decided it would be best for our group (8 people) to taste 4 red wines and 3 white wines. I went to Everything Wine with a budget of under $20 per bottle and had a blast picking them all out. I wanted to have all different varietals to make the tasting a little more fun. 

Reds:

Castillo De Aguaron Cabernet Sauvignon (Spain) - $13.49

Mirla Bay Pinot Noir (Chile) - $18.99

Carmen Reserva Carmenere (Chile) - $15.49

Belle Grove Shiraz (Spain) - $10.99 (I bought for $5.99 on sale!)

Whites:

Domaine de Vedilhan Viognier (France) - $16.49

Tinhorn Creek Gewurztraminer (Okanagan Valley, BC) - $14.99

Gray Monk Pinot Gris (Okanagan valley, BC) - $15.69

I wrapped up all the wines and had David number them 1-7 so I wouldn't know which was which. 

I had to make sure every spot was covered and there were no give-aways!

I did some research on all the wines and typed up descriptions and tasting notes on little cards. These cards were lettered A-G. each letter corresponded to one of the bottles. The goal was for everyone to taste all the wines, and try to match up the number to the correct letter/description, and also to guess what varietal it was. 

These are the cards everyone got to take their notes on!

Sherlock & I got some play time in before everyone came over.

In addition to all the work put in to selecting the wines and creating the descriptions, I did a bunch of research on-line to select our cheese and meats to pair with the wines. Each cheese and meat had a label with a suggestion of which wine to pair it with. 

When the family started noticing how much effort I was putting into this party, it was suggested we make it a "Black Tie Light" affair. Everyone dressed up in suits and dresses and we were ready for our classy evening!

We set everything up around our kitchen island, so we were all standing/walking around trying everything. 

Look at that spread! So beautiful!

I'm typically not much into parties, but I got so much joy out of spending time with my family and seeing them enjoy the work I put into something. It was so much fun for me to listen to everyone talking about their wines, "Oh I definitely taste grapefruit!" or, "Oh, this has a deep plum colour with a peppery taste!" Everyone also was talking over each other, "WHAT CHEESE PAIRS WITH WINE NUMBER THREE?!" It was perfect chaos. 

Some of us are more competitive than others, hiding our tasting cards so no one would steal our answers. 

So much food to devour!

Just getting started

Jeff's Movember moustache stole the show. Must be some delicIous wine!

After we had all tasted all the wines and jotted down our answers, we gathered in the living room and David read out our answers. I made the game, wrote all the descriptions, picked and wrapped all the wines, and I didn't even win! We got 1 point for guessing the correct letter for the wine, and one point for guessing the correct varietal. The total score was out of 14. I got 8/14, and Aly won with 11/14! We were all very impressed! We had to chuckle at the fact that my parents, who have the most mature palates, particularly with wine, ended up with the lowest scores!

I also got a laugh when we were guessing the costs of the wines, and everyone figured the Shiraz was around $18.00.... NOPE! $5.99! What a steal!

Three of the gents on the boy Pictionary Team! They kicked our butts!

The night was amazing and I've never felt closer to everyone. I have an amazing family!