When choosing wine for entertaining, personal preferences are a good place to start. Odds are, if you are fond of a particular Pinot Noir, your guests will appreciate drinking it, too. Serving it at the right temperature is also key to maximum enjoyment.
Great wines for special gatherings can be found at all price points. Spend a bit more on selections for more formal or intimate dinner parties, when everyone will be able to savor the wine.
Know your menu: This is the best way to ensure you select wines that will pair well with the food being served, and you can always ask your wine merchant for help. It can even be helpful to bring your recipes with you to the store, so that the vendor can suggest wines to complement all the dishes.
Mix it up: A variety of red and white wines will accommodate guests who may have a preference, and will provide an interesting selection. Try serving a white wine with the first course, then offer a red wine with the rest of the meal. Or pour one balanced, medium-bodied red and a similarly food-friendly white throughout the meal, depending on your menu.
Think seasonally: For lighter, warm-weather sipping, you might lean toward lighter whites and reds—and rosé, the summer staple. That said, jammy Zinfandel is pretty fantastic at a summer barbecue. Full-bodied whites and reds have the stamina for heartier cold-weather braises and stews that would overpower lighter options.
Go regional: What grows together, goes together. That means pairing Italian dishes with wine from the same region (such as ribollita and Montepulciano, boeuf bourguignon with Burgundy, and tapas or paella with a Rioja red or other Spanish wine).
Depending on your pour, a standard (750 ml) bottle of wine has 4 to 6 glasses—but generally 5 five-ounce glasses. Plan on two-thirds of a bottle per guest, more if you’ll be serving wine before dinner and/or are having a multiple-course meal.
If you’re stocking up on wine and storing it for any longer than a few days, heed the following tips:
Most people are fine with basic red (deeper) and white (slimmer) glasses—plus flutes or coupes for sparklers. It’s also perfectly appropriate to serve wine in tumblers, trattoria-style, at casual gatherings.