Y ears ago I belonged to a girls-only book club. Every week one of us hosted the club, the kids and husbands were left to fend for themselves and we would spend a few blissful hours drinking wine, talking about our week and occasionally, we'd even bring a book. That "book club" was my saving grace and often the only fully adult moment I would get all week. Eventually we dropped the book club premise and each of us brought a bottle of wine and left the book at home. Wine clubs, as they are now called, are becoming popular and can be a great way to spend time with friends and unwind from hectic lives. Starting a wine club is as easy or as complex as you want it to be - as casual or elegant as you'd like. The following are some tips and ideas for getting your wine club off to a spirited start. Starting a wine club is pretty simple. You don’t need to hire an expert or even have someone in your midst who knows much (or anything) about wine. To start, you just need someone who’s organized and willing to take the reins to get the ball rolling and help guide the club. They need not be a wine connoisseur! A good comparison as to what it takes to start a wine club is starting a book club. How many of you that are in book clubs actually have a member who was an English major, or works professionally in the literary world? Probably not many of you, yet you all enjoy getting together, talking about books, and learning a bit more about literature and each other. This is the same idea behind a wine club.
every month or any agreed schedule. The group should agree on a leader to organize the club (this position could be alternated among the members) An alternative way to build the club is to start a social media group and invite people to join.
Once you've established your members list and when and where you'll meet it's time to work out the details.
Starting a wine club should also mean having a food plan because it’s a little tough to drink through bottles in a tasting without at least having a little snack. One idea is for the person hosting to cook up a dinner for the group to enjoy during the meeting. If the group is large or no one wants to cook a full dinner, organize a potluck where each person brings a dish or simply have each person bring a little snack for the group to munch on while tasting. At the very least, have some crackers or bread on the table and ready to go. It will also probably help to have plenty of water ready for everyone to drink throughout the tastings. On to the most important element - the wine. Choose a theme for each meeting; local wine, wines from various countries or regions, different varieties, etc. Set a price range and have each member bring their favourite bottle of wine. Have the group vote for their favourite bottle at the end of the night and let the winner pick the next theme. Encourage your members to drink delicious wines and share their finds with the group at the next meeting.
The next step of course is acquiring members. Quite simply you can just gather some friends together and agree to meet once a week,
Cheers.
SPRING 2019 www.pei-living.ca
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