With friends · blind tasting
A wine tasting party with friends: six bottles, one theme, one tasting sheet
Eight friends, six bottles served blind, a theme that gives the comparison a point. This is not a job for a wine merchant: six bottles can be bought at your local wine shop. This page explains how to set up the evening so it works, and when a group purchase takes over.
The calculation, for form's sake
Set for eight guests who all drink, one meal. The result comes in under twenty bottles: the calculator itself will tell you that you don't need us.
Three themes that work
A tasting without a theme is a polite drinking session. The theme sets what you compare, and therefore what you learn.
Left Bank vs Right Bank
Three Médoc or Pessac-Léognan against three Saint-Émilion or Pomerol, same price range, same age. In one evening you learn to tell cabernet from merlot. The which Bordeaux page explains the families before you choose.
One vintage, six appellations
Six wines from the same year, from six corners of Bordeaux. The vintage is taken out of the equation; all that is left is the terroir and the winemaker's hand. Choose a year that is drinking now: the vintages to drink in 2026 page says which.
The vertical
A single appellation, or even a single estate, over five or six years. You watch the wine age in the glass. The most expensive of the three, because old vintages cost money, and the most instructive. The organising a vertical tasting page works out the bottles, the order of service and the budget with the vintages in stock.
How much to buy, and at what price
Six bottles for eight people is 4.5 glasses of 10 cl each over the evening: the right amount to taste, take notes, compare, and get home. If the tasting runs on into dinner, add two bottles of a simple wine for the meal, outside the theme. Beyond that, you are no longer tasting.
The theme decides the budget. Left Bank vs Right Bank works very well at €12–20 a bottle; so does a single vintage. The vertical climbs fast: a ten-year-old wine costs two to three times its release price. Allow €80–120 for the evening in the first two cases, €150–300 for a vertical, split between eight: €10–40 a head.
| Theme | Bottles | Price each | Total | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Bank vs Right Bank | 6 | €12–20 | €72–120 | €9–15 |
| One vintage, six appellations | 6 | €12–25 | €72–150 | €9–19 |
| Vertical over five or six years | 6 | €25–50 | €150–300 | €19–38 |
A running order that works
- One person buys and hides. Socks or brown paper numbered 1 to 6. Whoever bought doesn't vote, or votes for fun.
- One glass per person, rinsed between wines. Eight glasses are enough. A jug of water, bread, nothing else on the table: cheese kills the palate.
- Six rounds of fifteen minutes. One wine at a time, everyone takes notes in silence for two minutes, then you talk. An hour and a half of tasting, no more.
- The sheet. Four columns: colour, nose, palate, score out of 20. A fifth for the bet: Left Bank or Right Bank, which year, what price.
- The reveal. Unveil in order of scores, from least liked to favourite. That is where the evening succeeds: when the cheapest comes first.
How many bottles for a tasting for eight?
Six, at 10 cl per person per wine: 4.5 glasses each over the evening. Two more bottles if a dinner follows. The calculator above, set for eight guests and a meal, comes to five bottles: that is the count for a dinner, not a tasting, and it sends you to your local wine shop.
Do you need a wine merchant for six bottles?
No. Under twenty or so bottles, a trip to the wine shop beats volume pricing and delivery. A wine merchant becomes useful when several households club together: the group purchase with friends page explains how six households share an order. For a hen or stag party, the blind tasting for a hen party page offers three kits of six bottles.
Which glasses, what temperature?
One stemmed glass per person, medium-sized, the same for every wine. The reds come out of the cellar at 16 °C an hour beforehand; the whites spend 20 minutes in the fridge. Serving the wine the same way for everyone is the only rule that counts when tasting blind.
What do you do with opened bottles?
Six bottles opened for eight people, there is rarely anything left. If there is, recork them and keep them cool for three days: a red Bordeaux holds up. To work out a real event, the general calculator does the count by colour and by moment.
Six households wanting the same case? Quote request for a group order. Meeting every month? The tasting club programme plans the year.