New Year's Eve sparkling wine tasting
Make the sheets View: A4 · Letter
The New Year's Eve tasting starts with six glasses, every ring set to sparkling, on the guessing sheet. Each guest scores each glass with five small rings, writes one word, a guess and what they would pay, and two lines of notes catch the bubbles and the bread. With six wines on A4 or Letter the sheet splits into two, three glasses each, laid side by side, and A3 holds all six on one. The host sheet has the answers, the price of each bottle and the scoreboard, and the pour line works out how many bottles of each you need for your guests. Turn on the December look if you want a star and holly in the margins. It suits a group of four to twelve before midnight, and a mix of Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Prosecco and anything else that sparkles.
Chill the bottles well, then wrap each in a napkin or a bag and tape on a numbered tag, since a sparkling bottle shape gives a lot away. Open each just before its pour, a hand over the cork, and pour a small taste of each in turn. Flutes or white wine glasses both work. Guests guess the style or the country, and the reveal is a good warm-up for the countdown, with the reveal cards turned one by one. Print a guest sheet per person, the host sheet, tags and reveal cards. Six wines take about an hour, so start at ten. Keep the pours small and water on every table: with a midnight toast still to come, taste and spit through the six.
Questions
Can people tell Champagne from other sparkling wine?
Sometimes. Champagne often shows bread, brioche and a fine, persistent mousse from its long ageing on the lees, while Prosecco, made in tanks, is fruitier and softer. Cava, Crémant and English sparkling are made the way Champagne is and can come close. Tasting them blind side by side is the fun of finding out.
Which sparkling wines should I compare?
Six different styles: a Champagne, a Crémant, a Cava, a Prosecco, an English or Tasmanian sparkling, and one surprise. Mix the prices too, so the guesses get interesting.
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