A stylish and easy way to entertain adult guests is with wine and cheese. You may have attended one of these gatherings and are wondering how to plan a wine and cheese party of your own.

It helps if you already know a bit about wine and cheese but if you don’t, planning a wine and cheese party is a fun opportunity to learn. Since this is an educational page, you will be provided with quite a bit of information about wine, cheese, and how to properly combine them.

How should you plan for the style of the party – formal or informal? A touch of formality might be white tablecloths on the tables, and candles. You most likely know the people who will be in attendance, and you can decide upon casual or sophisticated based on what you think your guests would most enjoy. Evening is the standard time of day for this kind of party.http://www.celebratewithstyle.com/site/host-a-wine-tasting-party Keep the gathering small. Smaller groups work better. This page will describe a wine and cheese party for eight people. The guidelines here will be based around that quantity of eight guests. There are wine party invitations readily available online, but may be more difficult to find in greeting card stores.

Even if it is not mentioned in the description of the gathering (wine and cheese), we will also suggest a bread or cracker to serve with your wine and cheese, especially since so many of the cheeses need to be spread on something, or served thinly sliced. Another lovely and tasty touch is to provide some fruit with certain cheeses and their wines.

The cheese should be selected to provide a variety of tastes, but also choosing cheeses in a variety of colors as well lends to the aesthetics of your party, so we will suggest a combination of cheese other than, for instance, just white.

Each cheese with its wine, plus its accompanying food offering should be served in different areas of the room, preferably on individual small tables, so guests tasting the wines and cheese can stand and discuss their opinions, or just chat and visit without getting in the way of others waiting in line. Try to avoid putting everything on one long table. The multiple table idea also keeps the strong aromas separate from one another so the mild cheeses are not overwhelmed by the strong cheeses.http://www.freeuniquearticles.com/food/wines-and-spirits/wine-and-cheese-party-ideas/

Especially if this is the first party like this that you’ve planned, it’s wise to keep the selection fairly simple. This is a suggestion for five cheeses from five different countries, and what to serve with them. Part of the fun is the geography lesson served along with the cheese. If you choose five kinds of cheese and five accompanying wines, that should more than suffice for a well-rounded selection for your wine and cheese party. The selection of wines suggested here will give you two reds, two whites, and champagne.

If you want to have fun plus be well prepared, you may buy some of the wine and cheese combinations before your party and experiment yourself…find out what you like. If you’d like assistance with specific guidance, here are five recommendations:

1) Sharp Cheddar (England) – Cheddar cheese originated in England. Somewhere within its history, a variation known as New York Sharp Cheddar came to be, made in the early cheese factories of New York. http://www.applegatefarms.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?id=1670 This is a fairly firm, orange cheese with a tangy bite to it. It is not like mild or medium cheddar. Give your guests a new cheddar experience with the more emphatic flavor of the sharp Cheddar. http://www.chow.com/stories/10907 Sauvignon Blanc works with this cheese because it makes a light flavor statement, and will be a nice break for the palate from the tangy cheddar.http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Wine-and-Alcohol-644/wine-cheese-pairing-guide.aspx It is often described as having a somewhat “grassy” flavor, very fresh. Small chunks of French bread in a basket will provide a nice addition to this wine and cheese combination, by softening the flavors a bit further.

2) Havarti (Denmark) – Havarti is a tasty pale yellow Danish cheese, and comes in several varieties, all of them delicious. It is a semi-soft cheese, but with a very creamy texture. One of the nicest variations of Havarti is the kind made with dill weed in the cheese. It tastes good, plus it looks nice and will add color to your cheese table. You may opt for this instead of the plain Havarti. Havarti often comes in packages, pre-sliced. You may cut it into pieces and provide a plate of chunks of rye bread or better yet, cocktail rye bread so your guests will have something to put the cheese on. Pair it with a Rioja, a robust red wine from Spain.http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Wine-and-Alcohol-644/wine-cheese-pairing-guide.aspx

3) Brie (France) – Since Brie is one of the most popular cheeses, it may not be new to your guests. Its flavor is lighter and it is a “soft ripened” spreadable white cheese. You may want to consider cutting the “rind” (the hard part) off of the top of the brie so the guests may spread it more easily. To go with the mild flavor of Brie, offer a Brut Champagne. Extra Dry Champagne will be too sweet. In addition to cocktail crackers, consider serving sliced crisp apples with the Brie. The apples may be a new experience for some of your guests, and you will most likely receive a favorable reaction. Don’t cut costs on your champagne. The rule of thumb is the smaller the bubbles, the better the champagne.http://www.thenassauguardian.com/spice/296235132009245.php

4) Smoked Gouda (Holland) – Dutch Gouda cheese has a pronounced but soft flavor all its own. It is a semi-hard cheese, and therefore lends itself well to bite-sized chunks. Smoked Gouda, on the other hand, is not a subtle flavor at all, but absolutely wonderful according to many sources. Chefs use smoked Gouda in numerous recipes. It often has an amber brown rind, which you may leave on the cheese for the nice color. Provide a cheese slicer for this one. As guests slice the smoked Gouda, they can peel the thin piece of rind off without a problem. Serve a flavorful cracker with this cheese – garlic flavored crackers will be perfect if you can find some. The flavor is emphatic with its smoky overtones, so it will be wonderful paired with a hearty red Zinfandel.http://www.thefiftybest.com/useful_info/matching_food_and_wine/

5) Cambozola (Bavaria) – This Bavarian import combines the best of two wonderful cheeses – Brie and blue (or bleu). It is a soft-ripened cheese that is very similar in texture to a Brie, but running through it is a thin vein of bleu cheese. It is known as a hybrid cheese as a result. http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary/C/Cambozola-cheese-5786.aspx You will want to serve crackers with this cheese, because it is definitely one that needs to be spread. Chardonnay provides a nice chilled white wine with a taste statement of its own to complement the Cambozola.http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Wine-and-Alcohol-644/wine-cheese-pairing-guide.aspx

And there’s your menu! Labeling the cheeses with their respective countries and perhaps including some of the descriptions used here will provide information and as a result, more topics to spark the conversation. In reality, it is a party activity! Most likely, lively debate will ensue regarding what you chose and how you decided to pair the flavors. Almost everyone likes to share their opinions.

If you can afford to do so, try to acquire the right wine glasses for the different wines. Sometimes glasses are available through rental companies, or sold fairly inexpensively at many stores. Look online to see what you can find.

For red wine, you will want a “big bell” glass. It is a large glass with a wide mouth. This is so you can appreciate the aroma of the red, and also let it “breathe” in the glass. Red wine should be opened at least an hour before serving so the oxygen can soften the flavors. Pouring it into big glasses further serves this breathing purpose.http://www.luxist.com/2010/01/20/the-anatomy-of-a-wine-glass-size-and-shape-matters/

For white wine, a smaller glass will keep the smaller amount of wine chilled. Unlike the reds, the white wines do not need time to breathe, but they do need time to chill. Put them in the refrigerator about three hours before the party begins, then in ice buckets to keep them nice and cold for the party.http://www.redbookmag.com/recipes-home/tips-advice/wine-cheese-party-hl

Champagne is perfect served in champagne flutes, very slender tall glasses that are designed to optimize the champagne bubbles. They also prevent the sparkling wine from going “flat.” http://www.2basnob.com/wine-glasses.html For the champagne, provide a wine bucket with ice, just like the white wines.

Don’t forget the wine openers! At least one bottle of each wine should be open and ready when the guests arrive. Then, leave a few wine openers on some of the tables so guests don’t have to wait for their tasting.

If you have a hard cheese, it is wise to pre-cut it and serve the cheese chunks with toothpicks, or provide a cheese slicer so that guests can slice their own.

Provide drinking water at each table, and an empty bucket. In the world of wine connoisseurs, wine tasters will want to clear their palate in between the various flavors of the wine. They may choose to rinse out their glass, or sometimes rinse out their mouths. Either way, the bucket at the table will come in handy. Wine aficionados have a whole glossary of wine terms regarding wine tasting. They may say, "This fruity red has nice legs!" It might be fun to learn a little wine lingo before your party. http://www.tasteoftx.com/bevs/terms.html

For your softer cheeses, provide blunt rounded cheese spreaders. There should be more than one at each soft cheese table, so guests won’t have to wait for the others.

Small plates will work better than large plates. Guests will be roaming and taking small amounts at each table, most likely balancing a plate in one hand and a wine glass in the other while they visit with one another.

This party page is based around a guest list of eight people. First, how much wine to buy: About 1/4 of a bottle of each of the five wines should be perfect per serving size. Remember, this is a wine and cheese party, not a wine tasting party. The servings can be larger. So, if you are having eight people for your party and each of them wants to try a nice serving of each of the wines, you would need two bottles of each kind. Ten bottles total. Realistically, three of each would be better, because some people do not like reds, some do not like whites, and some do not like champagne. If each person has a ¼ of a bottle times 5, or 1 ¼ bottles of wine, that’s quite a bit. You’d want to plan a fairly long party. You do not want to underserve or overserve, but if there is leftover wine, cork it tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Most likely, it will not go to waste. Don’t forget to let the red wines warm slightly to room temperature before you drink them.

How much cheese? Cheese usually comes prepackaged, in various shapes and sizes. Brie comes in wedges. Smoked Gouda comes in “logs” covered with a brown rind. Havarti may come pre-sliced…it’s hard to give a solid answer. You will want the platters of cheese to look full. If each of the eight guests has a glass of wine and a small plate of cheese and other food, figure about four crackers and cheese per person per table (with the wine varieties). That will enable you to estimate the quantities. Again, err on the side of too much rather than too little. Cheese will keep for quite awhile if stored properly in an air-tight container. If you want to play it safe, buy a pound of each cheese.

For the crackers, buy two boxes and open one. You may need the second one, you may not. Be prepared. For the bread, again make certain the platter or basket is full. Have backups ready. Follow this guideline for all of the wine and food items. One key to any successful party is plenty of everything to eat and drink.