A blind wine tasting sheet for a game at home
A blind tasting turns a few bottles into a game. Everyone tastes the same glasses without seeing the labels, guesses what is in them, and finds out at the reveal who was right, and which wine they liked when the label could not tell them.
Verdetto is the sheet for it. The glasses stand in a row on numbered rings at the top of the page, and under each ring is its column: five rings to fill for how much you like it, one word, your guess and what you would pay. Across the foot are your favourite tonight, the one you would never buy, and the wines of the evening in alphabetical order, so guests know what to choose from without knowing which glass is which.
Number the bottles with the bottle tags before anyone arrives, hide them in bags and pour about 4 cl a glass. Five or six wines suit six to eight guests. Type the wines in when you make the sheets and their order is drawn for you, printed only on the host sheet and the reveal cards.
The host sheet holds the answers, a line on how many bottles you need, and the scoreboard for the reveal: a row per guest and a column per glass, with right guesses counted at the end. The reveal cards make the end an event: one per wine, folded, laid face down by its bottle and turned in order.
Close the evening with the keepsake: the podium, best nose, best value and the one you fought over. Water and a spittoon on the table, and everything prints free in black and white on A4, Letter or A3.
Verdetto is chosen for this evening; you can swap it on the next screen.
Questions
How do I hide the bottles?
Put each bottle in a bag or a sock, tape a numbered bottle tag on it, and pour in another room. Remove capsules that show the producer. The host sheet keeps which number is which.
How many wines for a blind tasting?
Five or six wines suit six to eight guests: enough to compare, not so many that the palate tires. A tasting pour is about 4 to 6 cl, so one bottle of each serves twelve.
Do guests need to know about wine?
No. The sheet asks for stars, one word and a guess, and the guess can be as loose as red or white, cheap or pricey. Beginners often guess as well as anyone.