Pairing Up

Selecting the best wines for your wedding.

By Mike Bowen

Great friends, great food, and great wine—these are the ingredients for a fantastic wedding. For many, however, even if you know what you like to drink, selecting wines that will please your entire guest list poses a major challenge.

As a local wine shop owner, I’ve worked with couples to create wine lists for every wedding event, including the rehearsal dinner, reception, and brunch. From this experience, I offer the following tips for perfect wedding wine pairings.

Estimate Consumption
Before figuring out your wine budget, estimate how many cases of wine you’ll actually need for each event. Typically count on pouring four glasses from one bottle of wine, with twelve bottles in a case.

How many glasses each guest will have depends upon a variety of factors, including:

The availability of other alcoholic beverages. If a fully stocked bar is available, the demand for wine may be less than for an event where only wine and beer are served.

Time of day

Wine consumption rises the later an event begins. In other words, people drink less wine at morning and early afternoon events when compared to late afternoon and evening events.

Length of the event

This is a critical variable to consider in your calculation. An open-ended event will definitely require more wine than one that ends at a specific time.

Determine Your Budget
Once you have decided how many cases of wine you think you’ll need, figure out your per-bottle price target. To help maximize your budget, bring your target bottle price along with the following questions to ask your wine retailer.

Where are you finding the best values? Typically, emerging (or re-emerging) wine regions—Washington state, South America, and Spain—have a wider selection of values than the established wine regions—California, France, and Italy. However, great values can be found anywhere, and a good wine shop should be able to direct you to them.

wine What wines have you found that appeal to a large number of people? Since you are buying wine for a variety of palates, ask for recommendations on wines that are proven crowd pleasers.

Do you offer case discounts? Most wine retailers offer at least a 10 percent discount on case orders.

Consider Your Menu
While each event’s menu can offer ideas about what wines to select, don’t tie yourself down to outdated rules. Many options go beyond the standard “red for meat, white for fish.” Bringing your menu to your wine store can help generate great wine suggestions. Ideally, you want the wine to enhance the menu, not overpower it or disappear into it. And, if your menu has a specific theme—big game, Asian inspired, etc.—your wine offerings especially need to match in weight and flavor.

Start your wine selection process at the same time you interview caterers. Bring a selection of wines with you to your menu tasting. Too often, people shop for wine too close to the event date to take advantage of this experience.

Taste a Variety of Wines
This is the fun part! After securing some suggestions from a wine shop, buy a few bottles to take home and try with friends. Be sure to have several people test them with you since everyone’s palate is different. Make an evening out of it by doing a blind tasting. Put the wines into paper bags or cover up the labels, so your friends can’t see what kind of wine they are drinking.

Transport and Store Carefully
Once you have all the wine in hand, be sure to follow a few simple rules to keep the flavors intact.

Don’t leave cases of wine in a car. When it’s sunny, the wine heats up and can explode. When it’s cold, the wine can actually freeze. Thawed wine goes down the drain, not on the table.

Store wine at around 60 degrees, out of the sun.

Transport the wine as gently and as little as possible to prevent “bottle shock,” which occurs when the wine is jostled enough to make the fruit flavors muted or disjointed. The effects of this can go away after a few months, but you probably don’t have the luxury of waiting.

Cheers!




	>> home Pairing Up Selecting the best wines for your wedding. By Mike Bowen Photography by Swope's Mountain Photography, Carrie Patterson, and Kisa Koenig Great friends, great food, and great wine—these are the ingredients for a fantastic wedding. For many, however, even if you know what you like to drink, selecting wines that will please your entire guest list poses a major challenge. As a local wine shop owner, I’ve worked with couples to create wine lists for every wedding event, including the rehearsal dinner, reception, and brunch. From this experience, I offer the following tips for perfect wedding wine pairings. Estimate Consumption Before figuring out your wine budget, estimate how many cases of wine you’ll actually need for each event. Typically count on pouring four glasses from one bottle of wine, with twelve bottles in a case. How many glasses each guest will have depends upon a variety of factors, including: The availability of other alcoholic beverages. If a fully stocked bar is available, the demand for wine may be less than for an event where only wine and beer are served. Time of day Wine consumption rises the later an event begins. In other words, people drink less wine at morning and early afternoon events when compared to late afternoon and evening events. Length of the event This is a critical variable to consider in your calculation. An open-ended event will definitely require more wine than one that ends at a specific time. Determine Your Budget Once you have decided how many cases of wine you think you’ll need, figure out your per-bottle price target. To help maximize your budget, bring your target bottle price along with the following questions to ask your wine retailer. Where are you finding the best values? Typically, emerging (or re-emerging) wine regions—Washington state, South America, and Spain—have a wider selection of values than the established wine regions—California, France, and Italy. However, great values can be found anywhere, and a good wine shop should be able to direct you to them. What wines have you found that appeal to a large number of people? Since you are buying wine for a variety of palates, ask for recommendations on wines that are proven crowd pleasers. Do you offer case discounts? Most wine retailers offer at least a 10 percent discount on case orders. Consider Your Menu While each event’s menu can offer ideas about what wines to select, don’t tie yourself down to outdated rules. Many options go beyond the standard “red for meat, white for fish.” Bringing your menu to your wine store can help generate great wine suggestions. Ideally, you want the wine to enhance the menu, not overpower it or disappear into it. And, if your menu has a specific theme—big game, Asian inspired, etc.—your wine offerings especially need to match in weight and flavor. Start your wine selection process at the same time you interview caterers. Bring a selection of wines with you to your menu tasting. Too often, people shop for wine too close to the event date to take advantage of this experience. Taste a Variety of Wines This is the fun part! After securing some suggestions from a wine shop, buy a few bottles to take home and try with friends. Be sure to have several people test them with you since everyone’s palate is different. Make an evening out of it by doing a blind tasting. Put the wines into paper bags or cover up the labels, so your friends can’t see what kind of wine they are drinking. Transport and Store Carefully Once you have all the wine in hand, be sure to follow a few simple rules to keep the flavors intact. Don’t leave cases of wine in a car. When it’s sunny, the wine heats up and can explode. When it’s cold, the wine can actually freeze. Thawed wine goes down the drain, not on the table. Store wine at around 60 degrees, out of the sun. Transport the wine as gently and as little as possible to prevent “bottle shock,” which occurs when the wine is jostled enough to make the fruit flavors muted or disjointed. The effects of this can go away after a few months, but you probably don’t have the luxury of waiting. Cheers!