RE-ceiving Guests: Champagne Tasting Party

A PARTY TO LOVE.  My friend, Martha, and her husband, Walter, hosted a wonderful champagne tasting party this weekend to celebrate  St. Valentine's Day.  Martha and Walter graciously allowed me to take pictures and to share many of the thoughtful details that made the party a big hit here. 

TWIN PINK HEART WREATHS.  Before the hosts even opened the door, guests were greeted by charming pink floral heart shaped wreaths which Martha hung with ribbon on her front doors.

FULL OF SURPRISES.  As soon as I walked in the door, I noticed a new large piece of artwork in Martha's living room.  At Christmas time, Martha had a mid size piece of folk art over her living room sofa and 2 small canvases which she used to make folk art style Christmas trees from strips of Christmas gift wrap.  If you want to compare, you can see the "before" in the Christmas Tour entry for Martha's home HERE  This new art piece with graffiti style hearts was colorful and whimsical, just like Martha.  I thought it was perfect, not just for the party, but for the space.  It really captures Martha's high energy, fun vibe.  Walter, caught me admiring the art and proudly informed me that Martha had *MADE* the art work for the party.  Martha shared how she found an image online as inspiration and then made the wall art in about 30-45 minutes in another entry HERE.  Martha and Walter stand in front of her masterpiece above.  Seriously, it is AMAZING in person and nearly every guest ended up inquiring about it.  Before I left the party, Martha said she was thinking of leaving it up after Valeintine's Day is over and I told her she should absolutely leave it up - it is AWESOME.

THE SETTING.  You can see the canvas fits the space very nicely.

THE FIRST STATION.  Martha asked each couple or single person attending to bring a bottle of champagne for the tasting. Some dropped off their bottles early if they could, so the bottles were already chilled when the guests arrived.  She had plastic containers set up on different tables with names tags identifying the bottles only by a number.  She wrapped each bottle of champagne up in aluminum foil so the bottle's packaging wouldn't influence its scores.  Above is her dining room table aka Station #1. 

CLOSE UP OF DECORATED CHANDELIER.  Martha hung glittery hearts from her gold leaf dining room chandelier. 

CLOSE UP CHAMPAGNE INCOGNITO.  One of the goals of the party is to sample a variety of champagnes and discover a new favorite.  It isn't always the expensive bottles that people end up loving so Martha encourages folks to bring something different for the tasting party.   This party works well because people' tend to buy champagne for Valentine's Day.  Why not have people bring their champagne over and get to sample other bottles as well?  Plus, restaurants are crazy hard to get into on Valentine's.  Martha had red, black and pink plastic containers for the bottles and I wondered where she found them.  She found $6 plastic bathroom trash bins at Wal-Mart and used them as champagne buckets.  Clever, right?  Martha has a great philosophy - it isn't where you shop, it is what you buy.  These great trash bins/champagne buckets are just one example.

SCORE BOOKLET.  Each guest is given a booklet to write down their reviews of the champagnes they taste. There were too many bottles for everyone to taste all of them (responsibly, at least) so Martha pre-assigned numbers to the cards in the booklets so guests would end up drinking from certain bottles at each station, but there was a mix.  For example at Station #1, I tasted from #'s 3 and 6 while my husband tasted from #1 and 7.  Inside our booklet, Martha had made scorecards for each bottle and a survey to score the champagne's color, bubble-consistency, aroma and taste on a scale of 1-5 and to leave some notes.  The comments were anonymous and we each left the note cards beside each bottle we sampled so they could be ready later. 

EXTRAS ON ICE.  Our wonderful hosts, also provided extra bottles of champagne for the guests when they arrived (and in case there was a shortage for some reason).  Above, you can see a couple of bottles of bubbly were put on ice in the bar's sink. 

DRINK RINGS.  Martha placed rings on the bases of the different champagne flutes to help the guests keep track of their flutes throughout the party.

RED TULIPS.  Martha placed red tulips on the tables.  Above, you can see she also placed one in a white urn in her bar area.  The flower is flanked by 2 tall red candles in hurricane lamps.  A lot of hostesses would have used traditional red roses for the tables, but Martha likes to go for the unexpected choice.

CHEESE, PATE, FRUIT AND CRACKERS.  Each table had an assortment of appetizers for guests to enjoy along with the champagne.   Notice the heart shaped crackers?  I thought they were darling.  I lent her my red heart shaped ramekins to hold crackers at the different tables.

BLUE CHEESE FILLED DATES.  These were a big hit.  People were talking about them in each room and going back for more. Someone did quibble that the blue cheese affected one's palette, but most people didn't let that stop them from enjoying a few of these blue cheese filled dates.

CANTALOUPE WRAPPED IN PROSCIUTTO.

SALMON, CAVIAR AND CREAM CHEESE ON CHIPS.  SO GOOD!

THESE WENT LIKE HOT CAKES.

HEART SHAPED PASTRIES STUFFED WITH CHICKEN.

CLOSE UP.

STATION #2.  Martha set up another large station in her kitchen area.   Again, unexpected red tulips instead of red roses. White doilies under each champagne bottle set them of from the red table.  As for the food, I have mentioned before that Martha is a great cook and although she made some of the food, she also got a caterer to do the big bulk of the food preparation.  All the food was FANTASTIC so I am going to plug the man in case you or someone you know needs a caterer in the Austin, Texas area. The caterer was Derek Gillespie whose email address is: 

dgillespie1976@gmail.com

CLOSE UP. Herb Roasted Vegetables in red heart bowl.  Beside each dish, Martha placed a place card framed in red hearts describing the dish.  All the roasted veggies were great, but the brussels sprouts were especially incredible. 

FRUIT, CHEESE AND PATE ON A WHITE TRAY.

OLIVE AND CREAM CHEESE FINGER SANDWICHES IN THE SHAPE OF HEARTS.  This is one of my favorite foods that Martha makes.  One time, I asked her to share her recipe to make them for a playdate and mine did not turn out nearly as good.   I will try to post the recipe.  They are basically filled iwth olives, walnut pieces and cream cheese, but I think Martha's spices make hers so good.  I will see if Martha will share her recipe with the blog. 

PASTRY COVERED BRIE WITH HEART DESIGN.

DESSERT STATION. In addition to the tasting stations, Martha set up a fondue/dessert table. Martha used a plastic Valentine tablecloth and laid out an avalanche of strawberries and pastries directly on top.

CLOSE UP OF PASTRY AVALANCHE.

FONDUE FIXINGS.  Strawberries, pieces of cake, marshmellows, and skewers combine for a help yourself fondue bar. 

OUTDOOR FIREPLACE.  Martha has a lovely deck and outdoor fireplace which she was going to use as an extra station if the party got too large, but her house held the party group perfectly so this space was not really used.  It was very pretty though with the red lantern lights hung up and guests enjoyed the view from inside. 

There was zip line fun and dancing after the  midnight hour, but I was not given permission to publish those details (and photos).  Sorry.  This was an incredibly fun party and even though Martha and Walter are supremely generous hosts and offered a very deluxe menu, a group of young couples could easily do a simpler version of this party.   The host could offer cheese, crackers and fruit and invite the other couples to bring not only a bottle of champagne, but an appetizer as well.  Index cards and pens could be left at the tables for the anonymous reviews and at the end of the evening the reviews and reveals could be done.

Thanks to Martha and Walter again for allowing me to share their wonderful party details on the blog. 

WRITTEN BY ELDAROSE

Eldarose's Valentine's Day Table is HERE

Reba's Red & White toile Table is HERE

Romantic Gestures for Valentine's Day under $5 are discussed HERE

Reba's other Valentine Tablescape is HERE

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See more Tablescapes HERE