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Thanks:
We all appreciate your volunteering to host an AWS Houston
Chapter Wine Tasting.
This is a guide to what to do as a host.
In General:
When you volunteered, you agree to a particular theme
for the tasting. If for
some reason, you need to change the theme, contact the Chapter Chair
to discuss possibilities. The chair will help you select an
alternative theme that has not been done recently.
Also, if you must make changes such as time, day or
place, contact the Chair immediately so trouble shooting can begin.
The Chair will contact the membership when needed.
Responsibilities:
1)
You are responsible for selecting the wines that fit your
theme. Research the
wines and write a brief description of each to provide to each
tasting participant.
Provide space on the handout for tasting notes and judgments.
Plan to serve 8 or 9 wines.
This may include a “warm up” or “greeting” wine in addition
to your theme wines.
2)
A question hosts usually ask is about the amount of wine to
purchase. A rule of
thumb is that one pour is about one ounce of wine.
That means there are about 25 tastes per bottle.
Most hosts plan on two bottles of each type of wine so that
tasters can have seconds of their favorites.
2) Plan
the food. Provide
palette cleansers for the tasting.
Examples are bread and/or cheese.
Some hosts want to provide elaborate appetizers or even a
full buffet meal. This
is not required and will not be reimbursed.
However, if you want to do this, decide in advance so that it
can be included in the invitation.
3)
Sometimes hosts prepare a list of nearby restaurants for
after the tasting if any participants want a meal and are not
familiar with your area of town.
3) Make a rough estimate of total costs.
This includes wine and food.
Keep your receipts.
Set Up:
Some hosts like to seat people and pour the tastes for
participants. Others
prefer to set up stations and let participants self-serve.
Either way is fine, and partly depends upon you home and how
many participants are expected.
Set out dump buckets and water for rinsing one’s glass.
Additional water for drinking is also appreciated by many.
Although participants should bring their own glasses, have a
few extra glasses in the event that someone forgets theirs.
If you want participants to vote for favorites, the
Chair can provide a white-board with voting dots.
Just ask one week mark in advance.
Set up a small table and chair near the front
entrance. The Chair will
use this for the sign-in attendance logs, guest badges and handouts.
Time Line:
-
About one month before the tasting date, the Chair will
communicate with you to find out the attendance capacity in your
home. For most hosts this
is usually between 20 and 30 people.
The chair will also help you trouble shoot any problems
you might have. If you
have special driving directions or maps to your home, send them
by e-mail to the Chair.
Also, estimate the cost of the tasting per person.
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About three weeks before the tasting, the Chair will send
out the invitations. The
invitation will include an approximate cost of the tasting. The
Chair is responsible to keeping track of the RSVPs to be sure we
stay within the number of participants you can accommodate.
For this reason, if anyone communicates directly with you
about attending, please forward the communication to the Chair.
Regardless of the number of participants specified, the
host is always entitled to invite additional guests if desired.
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One week before the tasting, the Chair will e-mail you
the number of participants expected.
At this time the host will also send to the expected
attendees your address and map.
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On Tasting night the Chapter Treasurer will take your
expenses documentation and calculate the cost per person.
The Treasurer has the responsibility to collect the money
from each participant.
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Within two weeks of the tasting, the Treasurer should
send you a reimbursement check for the costs of the tasting.
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