Have you hosted a wine tasting before? It’s so much fun and the perfect activity to hangout inside with friends when it’s too hot or raining outside. Plus, you’ll learn more about the kind of wines you enjoy. It’s super easy to lead a wine tasting. I did it and I am definitely no sommelier! Here’s what I did:
How To Host A Wine Tasting at Home
✅ Download the @vivino app
✅ Go to your nearest @milamsmarkets and explore their wine section and wine promotions. Scan the wine bottle label with the Vivino app to learn more about a specific wine. Then, pick 3 different wines you’d like to taste. I tried these three and loved them: Primitivo di Manduria by San Marzano (@sanmarzanowines), Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon by Austin (@hopefamilywines), and North Coast Sauvignon Blanc by Duckhorn (@duckhornwine).
✅ Now that you’re at Milam’s, buy all your favorite goodies for your charcuterie board. Make sure to get cheese and dark chocolate (pro tip: it’s gotta be dark chocolate and not too sweet), these will help enhance the flavors of the wines during your tasting. You can have an initial sip of the wine and then compare the taste after sampling some cheese.
✅ Buy sparkling water. Take a sip of sparkling water between wines to cleanse your palate. Also, available at Milam’s – how convenient?
✅ Invite your friends over and taste your wines. Use the Vivino app to share the characteristics of each wine whether it’s Light vs Bold, Sweet vs Tannic, Dry vs Sweet, or Soft vs Acidic. Remind your friends to notice which wines they like and what characteristics they like about the wine. Next time, look for different wines with those characteristics to keep discovering your favorite wines.
✅ Share your wine tasting on Instagram and tag me 😉 @coralgableslove
✅ ✅ ✅ PRO TIP: Take advantage of Milam’s $10 OFF any bottle of wine coupon 8/17/2023 through 8/23/2023.
Let me know how it went with your wine tasting!
Meet Michael & Chad Milam from Milam’s Markets
I’m got to spend time with Chad Milam and Michael Milam. They are both in charge of the wine department at all Milam’s Markets and shared with us a little bit of what they do.
Chad Milam: I’m probably like a lot of your readers. I love wine but I’m not very sophisticated. I can’t tell you all the varieties and all the different tasting notes, but I like to try and I like to explore. I love California wines. I love Napa wines. I like to take trips to Italy. I like the nebiola grape with the barbaresco and the barolo.
I like to work my way around our wine department. When you see our wine department, you’re going to see we’re constructed by location and with location come different grapes, different varieties, different colors, different tastes, and different attributes of the wine. I like to work my way slowly around our wine sections and try a little bit of everything.
What are some of your favorite wines?
Chad Milam: I love the Primitivo out of Italy. It comes from the southeastern region, typically characterized a little fruit forward. If you get further in northern Italy you get the more earthy tones. I love everything out of Napa especially when it’s aged properly and it drinks really smoothly. I’m not a big white guy. Now my cousin, Michael, who you’re going to talk to in a second he’s my go-to at least I go to for white wine suggestions. I think the two of us make a good team.
Michael Milam: I’m a big white wine drinker. Especially how hot it is here in South Florida. One of my favorite white wines to drink out by the pool when it’s hot out is Lagarde de Besada Albariño.
Download the Vivino App For Your Wine Tasting
With the Vivino app, you’ll find all the characteristics of the wines you’ll be tasting. It’s very easy to use. You simply snap a photo of the wine bottle’s label and the app pulls up all the relevant information.
Vivino pulls the wine and shows you the rating and the average price point. For example, the Primitivo di Manduria shows a really high price point. You can find that wine at Milam’s Market for about thirty dollars.
Then, what you can do is you can find the tasting characteristics based on the reviews. Is it lighter or bold? Smoother or tannic? Soft or acidic? And see what others have said about it. That may give you a little bit of blueprint for how you might be tasting it so you can kind of explore what other people said. What do I taste? And then refine from there.
Three Wine Pairing Recommendations
1. Primitivo di Manduria from San Marzano available at Milam’s Markets
Chad Milam: We’re gonna pair our Italian Zinfandel equivalent the Primitivo di Manduria from San Marzano cultivated off of vines that are 60 years old. It’s a well-oiled machine and should produce a very robust full-bodied red wine with a little bit of spice on the end. We’re going to pair it up with this soft cheese with truffle.
2. North Coast Sauvignon Blanc by Duckhorn available at Milam’s Markets
Michael Milam: We have the duck corn sauvignon blanc. When you think of white wine you want to think of white meats. Most of the time white wine’s gonna go well with Milam’s Markets’ Faroe Island salmon, any fish or shrimp kebabs are a great choice to go with this.
3. Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon by Austin available at Milam’s Markets
Chad Milam: Now we’re going to be pairing Paso Robles Cabertnet Sauvignon by Austin from the Austin Hope Winery. It’s relatively new to our stores you may know it’s bigger brother, Austin Hope, which you can find in nicer restaurants also in our stores. Austin comes at a much more palatable price point at around $20 a bottle. Paso Robles is a great region for the Cabernet and Bordeaux style wines. Also a good alternative to the Napa wines which do sometimes command a higher price point. Nonetheless you’re going to get a lot of fruit flavor, a little higher acidity coming out across, a slightly higher alcohol content that is going to pair with that acidity. We’re going to pair it with some great red meat options.
Chad Milam: I recommend a porterhouse steak. It’s characterized by the medallion shaped filet mignon, which you can see on the left side of the steak. And then the New York strip which runs across the right side of the steak. So you really can have the best for those who want a little more marbling in the strip and a little fat edge fat cap that’ll make the steak nice and juicy and buttery.
Stop By and Explore the Milam’s Markets Wine Department
Chad Milam: The winery of the store can be intimidating. There’s a lot of bottles, a lot of regions, different grapes, and different varieties. It’s a vast section of the store. Don’t be scared of the wine section. It’s more than just fun pretty labels. I’d recommend download the the Vivino app. So that when you purchase a bottle of wine you can decide, “Do I like it? Do I not?” Read the reviews. Understand how others characterize the wine. Is it dry or is it smooth? Is it acidic or is it not? Is it a bold wine? Is it a softer wine? Then you can try to narrow down what characteristics you like the most. The best thing to do is dive in. Try different styles. Try different countries. If you see us in the stores, we’re in the stores all the time, we’re happy to give you a recommendation.
Chad Milam: Come see us at our store. We’ve got a lot of great options. If you want something that we don’t have, just let us know. We’re gonna try to bring it in.
All right, amazing! Thank you so much Michael and Chad for sharing your time with us. We’re gonna try those wines and host a wine pairing at home. Cheers!
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