I was recently contacted by the good people at Wine Selectors to try a selection of wines they have on offer… and naturally I decided I shouldn’t insult them by refusing such a kind gesture! 😉

Wine Selectors is Australia’s largest direct marketer of wine, offering a range of red wine and white wine for delivery. It’s handy if the nearest decent liquor barn is a bit of a distance as it’s delivered to your door… better still there are a range of mixed selections which means you get to try new wines as recommended by people who know what they’re talking about (rather than the 18yr old at the local bottle shop). My Aussie readers may also have seen Wine Selectors kiosks at some airports around the country.

Receiving this random selection of wines (the Searing Sensations mixed 6-pack, which I’m now sharing with friends – and yes… this has made me very popular), reminded me of one of the few ‘parties’ I’ve been to over recent years.

Incidentally… why don’t people have ‘parties’ any more? No one I know seems to, though perhaps it’s the company I keep?!

Anyhoo, this friend hosted a BYO wine party with a difference. Not only were you required to bring a bottle of wine but you also had to bring an accompanying story!

Once there we were all given tasting glasses along with paper and pens so we could take notes… kind of like speed dating. But we were being wooed by wine, not baggage-laden men and women (or perhaps that’s just my experience).

It was – I have to say – an AMAZING evening. I went with a girlfriend and though we knew no one other than the host, it didn’t matter. It was impossible to huddle with only those you knew cos we all took part in the whole evening. While we had time after each ‘story’ to mull over the wine in question (take loo breaks, eat and chat), the night itself was essentially all about the wine. And the stories behind it.

We got to taste wine from a myriad of different countries. People told how they’d come across some obscure wine in Spain that they now bought from some equally obscure local bottle shop; wines from South Africa, discovered while on winery tours; or a dodgy wine consumed at a cafe in Melbourne during a marriage proposal. Sure, some people spoke about the clarity, aroma and body when explaining why a wine was special to them or why it was favoured, but for others it was about the memory attached to it.

I left with several new fave wines jotted down on my trusty piece of paper. Of course, I lost the list somewhere between the party and my place… but that’s a whole other story.

Does the wine party sound like something you’d try?
Do you ever have wine delivered or order random selections of mixed wines?

Disclaimer: I received a mixed half dozen from Wine Selectors to test the experience; but my thoughts, opinions and words here are my own.

I’m again linking with Jess and the IBOT team today.